President Trump May Use Military to Build Border Wall
In an interview published Friday, President Donald Trump revealed he is mulling plans to use the military to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Traveling from Billings, Montana to Fargo, North Dakota aboard Air Force One, President Trump told the Daily Mail he possesses “two options,” when it comes to building the border wall: “We have military, we have homeland security,” he said.
Of the two, the president said he prefers Congress approve the approximately $25 billion in spending that he’s seeking for the wall and have Department of Homeland Security undertake the project. “Politically speaking, I’d rather get it through Congress. If we don’t, I’m looking at that option very seriously,” he said.
“The possibility of diverting Pentagon funding and assets to build a border wall is a hole card the president is holding but has never directly acknowledged before. Two Defense Department officials told DailyMail.com in August that the Army Corps of Engineers could take on the task,” writes reporter David Martosko.
Asked if Army Corps of Engineers were equipped to build the wall, one source told the paper, “They build levees that hold back massive walls of water,’ one said of the agency. ‘They can build one to hold back drugs and human traffickers.”
As part of the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill passed in March, Congress earmarked only $1.6 billion for border security. In what many perceived to have been a broken promise, a paltry $38 million is allowed to be used for “border barrier planning and design.”
At the time, President Trump touted $1.6 billion in spending as a down payment to build the wall. “Got $1.6 Billion to start Wall on Southern Border, rest will be forthcoming,” the president tweeted. “Most importantly, got $700 Billion to rebuild our Military, $716 Billion next year…most ever. Had to waste money on Dem giveaways in order to take care of military pay increase and new equipment.”
https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/09/08/president-trump-may-use-military-to-build-border-wall/