HOW TRUMP CAN GET FUNDS FOR HIS WALL
Pentagon is the biggest source of cash and military may help build it
THE United States President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency to address what he called an “invasion” of drugs, gangs, human traffickers and undocumented migrants over the US border with Mexico.
The declaration means Trump would be able to sidestep Congress to access federal funds from elsewhere to help pay for construction of a border wall.
With the Pentagon by far the biggest source of cash, here is a look at how the US military could help build Trump’s wall.
Trump’s declaration of a national emergency means he could now draw on Pentagon funds that have already been approved by Congress for this year.
He had wanted Congress to authorise US$5.7 billion (RM23.26 billion) for a wall along parts of the border, but lawmakers provided just US$1.375 billion for barriers, and specifically not a solid concrete wall.
The White House said Trump would access US$6.1 billion from two Pentagon sources: US$3.6 billion from a military construction fund, and US$2.5 billion from Defence Department counterdrug activity funds.
Even though Trump’s emergency declaration has been anticipated for weeks, the Pentagon was unable to immediately provide details on which programmes or projects would lose out as the money is repurposed for Trump.
Currently, most of the construction funds are already earmarked for military housing, base improvements and various other projects.
The Defence Department could also scrap or scale back planned projects, though such a move would spark the ire of US lawmakers who lobbied for the projects and whose districts would be impacted.
As a candidate, Trump repeatedly vowed that Mexico would pay for a wall.
The Pentagon already has some 4,000 active-duty troops stationed along the border, deployed under a controversial order Trump gave last year ahead of mid-term elections.
The troops’ role has primarily been to erect miles of concertinawire fencing along popular crossing points, though they are not necessarily experts at building more permanent walls.
Such a task could fall into the hands of the Army Corps of Engineers, which has decades of experience working on large-scale projects.
The Pentagon could send additional troops to the border to help, or the work could be farmed out to private contractors.
The National Emergencies Act allows the president to declare a national emergency, provided that there is a specific reason for it.
That then allows the mobilisation of hundreds of dormant emergency powers under other laws, and gives access to Pentagon funds.