Shaheen Denounces Trump’s Plan to Again Steal Military Funding to Pay for Border Wall

**Shaheen was Original Cosponsor of Bipartisan Resolutions to Terminate President’s Previous National Emergency Declaration to Divert Military Funding**

(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 media reports 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.

“If these reports are true, President Trump is once again planning to raid funding set aside for our military and counter-narcotics efforts to fund a wall he said Mexico would pay for,” said Shaheen. “The Shipyard narrowly escaped losing funding for critical infrastructure projects last year but military construction projects across the country that are important to our national security were not so fortunate. Given that major contracts have now been awarded at the Shipyard, I am hopeful that funding there will not be threatened. However, I’m concerned that the funding I fought for to establish a New Hampshire Army National Guard Readiness Center in Concord is vulnerable to the President’s cash grab. Congress continues to fund border security on a bipartisan basis and the administration needs to stop treating funding for our national security, service members and their families as a slush fund for his wall. Leader McConnell needs to also stand aside and allow the Senate to vote to defend Congress’s Constitutional power of the purse.”

The bipartisan funding legislation signed into law last month 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. The funding Shaheen fought to secure for the readiness centers in New Hampshire are particularly critical as New Hampshire ranks 51 out of 54 states and territories in infrastructure for the Army National Guard.

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.