A group of Senate Democrats recently called on the U.S. Department of Defense to provide Congress with details of its decision use military construction funding to pay for a Southern border wall.
“We are opposed to this decision and the damage it will cause to our military and the relationship between Congress and the Department of Defense. We also expect a full justification of how the decision to cancel was made for each project selected and why a border wall is more important to our national security and the wellbeing of our service members and their families than these projects,” Sens. Chris Murphy (D-CT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Dick Durbin (D-IL) wrote to Defense Secretary Mark Esper.
The senators underscored the harm that diverting funding would cause to military readiness and our national security.
The senators are asking Esper for a description of the source of funds to be used for the border wall. They also seek full justification of how the decision to cancel was made for each project selected and why a border wall is more important to our national security than these projects.
The letter was also signed by every Democratic member of the Military Construction and Defense Appropriations Subcommittees, including Sens. Tom Udall (D-NM), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Patty Murray (D-WA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jon Tester (D-MT), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI).