DOD may commit to help with border construction projects for two to three years, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan told reporters Saturday after visiting the U.S.-Mexico border near El Paso, Texas, according to a DOD transcript.
Shanahan is tasked with finding defense budget money to pay for a border wall following President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency. Shanahan said that after being on the ground, he does see a role for DOD and wants to make sure that’s more than quick triage.
One reporter asked if that would interfere with other defense priorities.
“Well it’s a priority of the Commander-In-Chief,” Shanahan said. “When you look at the DOD mission, it’s not a traditional mission for us. There’s been a history over… a number of administrations where DOD supports DHS so… it’s not a new precedent.”
Here are additional developments on the President’s emergency declaration:
- Military construction projects that were scheduled to start later this year are the ones most likely to be put on hold to divert money to the border wall, according to Military Times.
- The House is expected to pass a resolution Tuesday that states formal opposition to the emergency declaration, as USA Today It would trigger a vote in the Senate within 18 days.
- Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told KTUU-TV that she would support the Democrats’ resolution. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) indicated last week she would also support it.
- AP breaks down the resolution and looks at which other Senate Republicans could help the resolution pass, though it’s unlikely to be enough to overturn a promised veto.
- Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), just back from a two-week Guard deployment to the border, said he agrees it is an emergency that goes beyond immigration. “It’s a security threat, with the amount of drugs coming over the border and the human trafficking that I’ve seen,” he said Sunday on Face the Nation.
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