Rep. Adam Smith said Wednesday that he sees bipartisan support for legislation that could block President Trump from going through with a threat to tap the Pentagon to build a U.S.-Mexico border wall.
The prohibition could be added into the National Defense Authorization Act next year when Smith becomes the new chairman under the Democratic majority, he told defense reporters at a breakfast event.
“We can certainly put legislation in that says no Department of Defense money should go towards the wall and that would preclude using our soldiers as part of the effort to build it,” Smith said. “I think there is some bipartisan support for that idea precisely because Republicans see greater defense needs.”
Trump is wrangling with Democrats on Capitol Hill over $5 billion he wants this month to fund the border wall and issued another tweet Tuesday threatening to tap the military for construction if Congress does not approve the funding.
“If the Democrats do not give us the votes to secure our Country, the Military will build the remaining sections of the Wall,” the president tweeted, reprising a similar threat from earlier this year.
There are also questions over whether Trump’s new approval for a $750 billion defense budget — $50 billion above his ordered top line in October — could be an attempt to get the funding needed for military construction.
But Smith was skeptical of that scenario.
“I don’t think there’s wall funding in that $750 billion number,” he said. “The president will send up his budget and we’ll see, and if there is wall funding we’ll all flip out and say ‘We can’t do that.’”
The wall funding fight resulted in an unusually charged press conference Tuesday between Trump and Democratic leaders Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the likely incoming speaker, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York in the White House, and no agreement appeared imminent.
Parts of the federal government could shut down next week if an agreement cannot be reached.
