They can’t start NEW wall with any Dec of Emerg money in AZ, NM, or CA because it would allow parties there to have “standing” to sue to stop it.
So all that can be built there are either 1) replacement walls (as I understand it, funded by the 2017 Omibus); 2) new walls built with the non-DoE money that Trump is using; 3) new walls built with the $1.7b in authorized 2019 money.
Trump will target TX (5th circuit, heavily R) for all DoE building. If a suit comes up there, it will likely be crushed.
That's good, cause Texas is were the majority of foreign nationals are entering our country illegally.
Well, how about the contractors do as instructed and the admin act like the demolibs do when they get a court injunction. Pfffttttt! Keep working..............
For now, looks like any new construction is on hold, even in TX.
Bulldozers sit idle at border amid legal confusion over Trump’s emergency
By Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Molly O'Toole Feb 26, 2019 | 4:10 PM | Mission, TexasPresident Trump has declared a national emergency along the border with Mexico, but here in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, there’s little sign of a government springing into action.
Earlier this week, two contractors surveyed a 150-foot-wide, half-mile-long stretch of land that had been cleared of brush so crews could build the first new border barrier of Trump’s presidency. But a large excavator nearby sat idle in the dirt.
Half a dozen lawsuits and constraints contained in the spending bill Congress passed earlier this month have combined to throw the planned construction into confusion and doubt.
Officials from Customs and Border Protection, the agency charged with building Trump’s border barrier, aren’t clear on what happens next.
“We’re just waiting to hear” from Washington, said Jason Montemayor, acting supervisor of the Border Patrol’s self-described “wall team” here.
“There’s nothing going on right now.”
The first 14 mile run of 18 foot bollards (the primary barrier) in San Diego was funded by 2017 appropriations.
This new 14 mile run of 30 foot bollards (the secondary barrier) was funded by the 2018 appropriations.
Several other segments that were funded with 2018 appropriations have been awarded, and will start construction soon, including Tecate, CA; Calexico, CA, Yuma, AZ, Lukeville, AZ; as well as 33 miles in the Rio Grande Valley.
The $1.375 billion appropriated for FY 2019 has not been committed, but is probably earmarked for particular segments. The $5.7 Billion requested was focused on the Rio Grande Valley, so that is likely where the new appropriations will go (only my speculation).
I assume that you meant DoD rather than DoE for the other funds. There are a few pots of money within the DoD (counter-drug programs, unobligated Military Construction funds) ranging from easier to harder to tap into, that make the bulk of the new funds. Almost the first $5 billion does not even require a declaration of Emergency to be re-programmed for wall building.
So there will likely be a series of struggles over these several pots of money, each with different arguments/lawsuits being made. Many smaller projects must be delayed or defunded completely to come up with billions of dollars in one fiscal year.
In the end, there is pretty clear legislative authority for the President to declare this an emergency. Hopefully, your Zen Master agrees that the Supreme Court is likely to eventually uphold the Emergency declaration, and we get to spend the full $8 billion.