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A4 up front
Thursday 5 sepTember 2019

Military base cuts affect schools, target ranges, more

Continued from Front said Wednesday. “And we
think by the end of next
Trump’s move would take year, which will be some-
the biggest step yet in de- time right after the elec-
livering on his longstanding tion actually, but we think
promise to build a wall to we’re going to have close
block immigrants from en- to 500 miles of wall, which
tering the country illegally. will be complete.”
But that may come at the New stretches of fencing
expense of projects that are sure to spark legal bat-
the Pentagon acknowl- tles with angry landowners
edged may be difficult to and environmentalists. The
fund anew. Pentagon plan also fuels
A senior defense official the persistent controversy
told reporters the Penta- between the Trump admin-
gon is having conversations istration and Congress over
with members of Congress immigration policies and
to urge them to restore the the funding of the border
funding. The official agreed wall.
that the department has “It doesn’t take any input
“a lot of work ahead of us,” from the local communi-
considering that Congress ties. It will take away from
has given no guarantee it the private property rights,”
will provide money for the said Rep. Henry Cuellar, D- A rugged uphill section of the international border wall that runs through Organ Pipe National
defunded projects. The of- Texas. “We are going to do Monument is shown, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2019 in Lukeville, Ariz.
ficial was not authorized to everything we can to stop Associated Press
discuss the details publicly the president.”
so spoke on condition of Lawmakers who refused ing re-election, would lose the Treasury Department’s structure for troops would
anonymity. earlier this year to approve a $63 million middle school asset forfeiture fund, $2.5 be affected, in the wake of
In addition, new stretch- nearly $6 billion for the wall at Fort Campbell. billion from Defense De- recent scandals over poor
es of fencing proposed must now decide if they “We need to secure our partment counterdrug ac- living quarters for service
along the Rio Grande and will restore the projects that border and protect our tivities and now the $3.6 bil- members in several parts
through a wildlife refuge in are being used to provide military; we can and should lion pot for military housing of the country. Defense of-
Arizona promise to ignite the money. do both,” McSally said. “I construction announced ficials also said they would
legal battles that could de- “To pay for his xenophobic went to the mat to fight for Tuesday. focus on projects set to
lay the wall projects as well. border wall boondoggle, Arizona projects and suc- The Pentagon reviewed begin in 2020 and beyond,
The military base projects President Trump is about to ceeded.” the list of military projects with the hope that the
facing the chopping block weaken our national securi- Elaine McCusker, the Pen- and said none that provid- money could eventually
tend to address less urgent ty by stealing billions of dol- tagon comptroller, said the ed housing or critical infra- be restored by Congress.
needs like new parking at lars from our military,” said now-unfunded projects are
the U.S. Military Academy Rep. Debbie Wasserman not being canceled. In-
at West Point, New York, Schultz, D-Fla., who chairs stead, the Pentagon is say-
and a variety of small arms a key military construction ing the military projects are
ranges at bases in Wiscon- panel. “The House of Rep- being “deferred.”
sin and Oklahoma. But resentatives will not backfill Congress approved $1.375
a “cyber ops facility” in any projects he steals from billion for wall construction
Hampton, Virginia, and the today.” in this year’s budget, same
expansion of a missile de- One of the Senate’s most as the previous year and
fense field at Fort Greeley, endangered Republicans far less than the $5.7 bil-
Alaska, face the ax, too. in the 2020 election, Arizo- lion that the White House
Trump has so far succeed- na Sen. Martha McSally, re- sought. Trump grudgingly
ed in building replacement ported that her state is get- accepted the money to
barriers within the 654 miles ting nicked for just $30 mil- end a 35-day government
of fencing built during the lion from a project that was shutdown in February but
Obama and Bush adminis- being delayed anyway. simultaneously declared
trations. The funding shift will Georgia, where two po- a national emergency to
allow for about 115 miles of tentially competitive Sen- take money from other
new pedestrian fencing in ate races loom next year, government accounts,
areas where there isn’t any would be spared entirely, identifying up to $8.1 billion
now. though powerful Senate for wall construction.
“The wall is being built. It’s Majority Leader Mitch Mc- The transferred funds in-
going up rapidly,” Trump Connell, R-Ky., himself fac- clude $600 million from