Two W. Pa. projects on list of possible military cuts to pay for wall
WASHINGTON — Two sites in Western Pennsylvania are on the Pentagon’s list of 400 military construction projects that might be slashed to pay for President Donald Trump’s wall along the Mexican border.
Democrats, who requested the list, expressed hope that by knowing which projects could be targeted, lawmakers would be more likely to override Mr. Trump’s veto of a measure aimed at preventing the cuts.
“Now that members of Congress can see the potential impact this proposal could have on projects in their home states, I hope they will take that into consideration before the vote to override the president’s veto,” said Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
With the House scheduled to vote Tuesday on overriding Mr. Trump’s veto, a spokeswoman for the top GOP vote counter predicted the president would prevail anyway.
“House Republicans have stood strongly with President Trump on securing our nation’s border and overwhelmingly supported his emergency declaration by large margins when we voted on this weeks ago; this will not change,” said Lauren Fine, spokeswoman for No. 2 House GOP leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana.
Among the local projects on the list are $17.65 million worth of construction at the Naval Operational Support System in Coraopolis and $5 million for highway improvements at the Conneaut Lake Army Reserve Center.
Earlier, some Pennsylvania lawmakers were concerned that the funding shift would halt $85 million worth of construction to enable the 911th Airlift Wing in Moon to accommodate large C-17 transport planes. Public information officers say that funding never was in jeopardy because the work is well underway.
Congress appropriated funding for the Naval Reserve project in 2015, but so far no contracts have been awarded, leaving the fate of a new training building in limbo.
“The latest information is
further proof that robbing resources from Pennsylvania projects — to build a wall that security experts say won’t work — is shortsighted and damaging to our country,” said U.S. Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, one of the Democrats who pressured the administration to identify the projects that could be affected.
“The president has discretion to spend over $5.7 billion to construct additional border walls without having to invoke the National Emergencies Act,” said Steve Kelly, spokesman for Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.
“Sen. Toomey supports that spending. He voted to terminate the president’s emergency declaration because it is unnecessary and it undermines the fundamental constitutional principle of the separation of powers. Sen. Toomey will continue to advocate for the timely completion of military construction projects in Pennsylvania.”
Public affairs officers for the Naval Operational Support System in Coraopolis and Conneaut Lake Army Base could not be reached Tuesday.
The Pentagon document listed hundreds of projects envisioned around the U.S. and world worth about $12.9 billion. Not all will be subject to cuts, the Defense Department wrote, making it difficult to determine exactly which would be vulnerable.
The list included more than $100 million for water treatment plant improvements at Camp Lejeune and airfield security and other work at Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station in North Carolina. That is the home state to Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who initially said he opposed Mr. Trump’s emergency but voted for it. Also listed were an air traffic control tower at Fort Benning, Ga.; a maintenance hangar at Travis Air Force Base in California; and a drone hangar at Kunsan Air Base in South Korea.
Mr. Trump declared a national emergency at the Mexican boundary last month after Congress limited him to just under $1.4 billion to build border barriers. He invoked a law that would let him siphon other budget funds — $3.6 billion from military construction — to build the structures and fulfill a 2016 campaign promise.
The House voted to block his emergency by 245-182 in February. The Senate followed last week by 59-41, including a dozen GOP defections. Lawmakers expressed concerns that Mr. Trump was ignoring Congress’ constitutional control over spending and worries about the cuts’ impact back home. Mr. Trump vetoed the bill Friday.
In a letter accompanying the list, Defense Department officials said they wouldn’t touch items for which money would be awarded by the Sept. 30 end of this fiscal year or for projects such as housing.