"We got more than enough money in this ridiculous thing to build it. Keep the change, you filthy animals."
Posted on 03/24/2018 3:26:05 PM PDT by zencycler
President Donald Trump briefly threatened to veto a giant spending bill on Friday and then reluctantly signed it to keep the military funded.
The lack of funding for a border wall with Mexico is likely one of the president’s biggest frustrations. Trump mentioned the wall when he threatened to veto the bill. The $1.3 trillion budget includes just $1.6 billion for wall construction along the southern border, far short of the $25 billion needed to accomplish Trump’s signature campaign promise.
To make matters worse, the spending bill specifically prohibits Trump from building the kind of wall he wants. The president nevertheless celebrated the progress and pointed out that construction can begin immediately.
But Trump also dropped an eyebrow-raising hint that he could take an unprecedented option and build the wall using the enormous military budget.
“I want to address the situation on border security, which I call national defense,” Trump said. “I call it stopping drugs from pouring across our border. And I call it illegal immigration. It’s all of those things. But national defense is a very important two words. Because by having a strong border system, including a wall, we are in a position, militarily, that is very advantageous.”
For the first time, Trump underlined the significance of the barrier as a military structure and a matter of national defense. Up to now, the president promoted the wall as a way to curtail illegal immigration and stop the deadly flood of illicit drugs. The introduction of the wall’s military function is significant, especially in terms of funding it.
Roughly half of the spending bill is dedicated to the military for a total of over $654 billion allotted to the Pentagon’s base budget and overseas counterinsurgency operations. That’s enough to build the wall 26 times.
(Excerpt) Read more at theepochtimes.com ...
What Would Nancy Do?
I and a few others replied that it's obvious Trump could declare border defense a national security issue and build a DMZ type infrastructure using DoD funds and resources.
Duh! I mean, this isn't brain science or rocket surgery. Any administration can essentially do whatever it wants, be it illegal or legal. If Obama could flip off everyone running F&F, Trump can certainly build a border wall under military pretenses.
The ACOE were even part of Patton’s fast army in Europe and they were building forts, bridges, roads for the army to roll through and we couldn’t do a damn wall? Hopefully there will be machine gun turrets added..
So, if Paul Ryan won’t pay for the wall, maybe Mattis will...
Interesting read. Let’s see what happens.
Regardless. He should try every way possible.
Maybe this.
“Congress is using budget shenanigans to funnel Pentagon money to President Trump’s border wall.”
also, the bill talks about withholding funds for non-compliance to federal laws/statues/regulations & even T&C’s!
Now imagine the POTUS with the NSA/Military Intelligence, has dirt on everyone and everything. All those budgets for agencies/charities/corporations/organization we so hate, can be withheld, if they end up breaking federal law/regulations/statues/T&C’s.
So Trump/Q Team can simply reveal/leak this dirt on the organization they don’t want funded using their usual channels, for example Julian Assange, Fox News etc.. whoever, and then say, hey this organization has broken these laws/statues/regulations/T&C’s, we are suspending funding for the time being or indefinitely.
Also check section b:
(b) Disallow (that is, deny both use of funds and any applicable matching credit for) all or part of the cost of the activity or action not in compliance.
ALL or part of the cost!
Think Planned Parenthood.
NO use the Army Corps of Engineers/Seabees/Combat Engineers of all branches. They’ll do it right and at a speed that Trump is used too. No fooling around using Union Construction slugs. (though they might be motivated to keep out invaders that take their jobs at slave wages)
Using the Military on this will drive the left bonkers...watch the lawsuits fly.....Trump can declare a National Emergency!
Sounds like just the sort of thing an NR never-Trumper would quote.
The difference between Derbyshire and an unfortunate number of Trump supporters is that he doesn’t view Trump as someone to whom unconditional loyalty is owed. Trump isn’t the nation’s leader via the divine right of kings. He’s a hired hand whose performance should be judged based on whether he delivers. We did not hire someone to give us one excuse after another, and voters won’t stand for it. That is the meaning of the AL and PA-18 losses. If Trump continues on this road, it’s possible he will actually help the GOP lose its Senate majority.
Isn’t amazing that the fed govt’s primary reason for being is national defense and protecting our borders, yet they refuse to that job. They refuse to allocate money to do that job.
There’s a big difference between the Army COE and Army combat engineers that actually get their hands dirty building and destroying in support of combat operations. The (domestic) COE is essentially a custodial agency made up largely of civil service workers under the supervision of a handful of Army Engineer officers. Whatever construction that falls under their purview is almost always contracted out.
If he does this, I’ll owe him an apology and much more future benefit of doubt.
I don’t know, I sure hope so. America needs a win.
That guy is an idiot.
Red Castle
“someone to whom unconditional loyalty is owed.”
No one thinks that. Sane people know that Trump’s fate and America’s fate are inextricably intertwined. America is on her deathbed and Trump is our last peaceful chance at survival. That’s a fact.
Same here. Trump signed too easily and too quickly with little bellyaching about it. To me, that was a sure sign that he had the wall figured out.
Read the letter he sent to McConnell and Ryan minutes after he signed the bill along with the December 21 EO declaring a national emergency.
Trust the plan. And Pray.
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