The Online Newspaper of Lakewood High School

Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

    The Wall is Coming

    Photo+shows+different+prototypes+for+the+wall+in+San+Diego+
    Photo shows different prototypes for the wall in San Diego

     

    President Donald Trump made another significant leap towards fulfilling his dream of building a wall on the southern border. He did so by going around Congress and directing military spending money towards the construction costs of the wall.

    As of Monday night, the Pentagon had authorized the transfer of $1 Billion towards building the wall. This move came with much backlash from Democratic lawmakers.

    With this $1 billion the army corps of engineers will construct 57 miles of fencing along the Yuma and El Paso sections of the border. This fencing will be 18 feet high.

    This is one of many moves made by the president recently since he has declared a national emergency which has allowed him to transfer billions of dollars towards the construction cost. Trump has been using counter-drug monies to partially fund the wall and now with it being a national emergency, he can easily send military money to help with the construction cost.

    With the transfer of this much money coming from the Pentagon, this may leave a longterm burden on the Pentagon because they won’t have as much money to spend on actual military expenses.

    The Trump administration plans to pull a total of $6.1 billion from Pentagon accounts, $2.5 billion from counter-drug programs and $3.6 billion from military construction funds.

    Every Democratic Senator on the Senate Appropriations Committee’s subcommittees on Defense and Military Construction signed a letter to Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan saying that they object the transfer of the funds.

    “We strongly object to both the substance of the funding transfer, and to the Department implementing the transfer without seeking the approval of the congressional defense committees and in violation of provisions in the defense appropriation itself,” the senators wrote in the article.

    More to Discover