Shaheen Condemns Trump’s Announcement to Raid National Guard, Military Aircraft and Navy Programs to Pay for Border Wall

**Shaheen successfully defended the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard construction projects the last time the President Trump diverted defense funding for his wall** 

(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a senior member of the Senate Appropriations and Armed Services Committees, issued the following statement in response to the Trump administration’s announcement that the President plans to once again divert military dollars appropriated by Congress to fund his border wall, which he promised Mexico would pay for. The President’s announcement confirms media reports from earlier this year, which Senator Shaheen warned against in January. 

“President Trump is again taking military funding that was provided by Congress on a bipartisan basis to fund a wall he vowed Mexico would pay for,” said Shaheen. “These weapons and equipment are fundamental to military readiness. The last time the President tried this it put construction funding that I had fought for at the Shipyard in jeopardy. While the Shipyard was ultimately spared, that was not the case for numerous other important military priorities throughout the country. Congress continues to fund border security on a bipartisan basis and the President needs to stop treating funding for our national security as a slush fund for his wall. Leader McConnell also needs to end his obstruction and allow votes in the Senate to defend Congress’s Constitutional power of the purse.” 

The bipartisan funding legislation signed into law in December for fiscal year (FY) 2020 includes $1.375 billion for physical barriers along the southern border and $15 billion for Customs and Border Protection’s border security efforts. 

Senator Shaheen, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services and Appropriations Committee, has fought tirelessly to secure funding for New Hampshire’s national defense priorities. She was instrumental in defending Portsmouth Naval Shipyard construction projects against the President’s previous threat to divert Shipyard funding towards the border wall.  Since the President first announced his emergency declaration last year and projects at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard were initially listed as potential targets to lose funding, Senator Shaheen successfully defended the funding secured by Congress. Shaheen was also a cosponsor of the bipartisan resolutions to terminate the President’s National Emergency Declaration, which was subsequently vetoed by the President.