The Republican chairmen of the Senate’s armed services and appropriations committees both said Tuesday they would consider President Trump’s newest suggestion that the Pentagon build his southern border wall.
The president again floated military construction as a secondary option as he faced off with Democrats and prepared Tuesday to enter a meeting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and the likely next House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., over the $5 billion in border wall funding he wants added into appropriations bills this month.
[Read: Trump feuds openly with Pelosi, Schumer as border fight explodes in White House]
“The president’s got a lot of leeway on all this. Under the Constitution, he has the right and duty to defend the nation and protect the borders and everything that goes with it,” said Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the Senate Appropriations Committee chairman who would oversee Pentagon spending on a border wall.
The border wall fight threatens to shut down the government when a stopgap funding measure runs out on Dec. 21 and the support, or at least open-mindedness from Republican leaders, could give Trump more leverage in the funding negotiations with Democrats.
“If the Democrats do not give us the votes to secure our Country, the Military will build the remaining sections of the Wall. They know how important it is!” Trump tweeted Tuesday morning.
Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., the Senate Armed Services chairman, said he spoke with the president last week about his bill that raises what he says is enough revenue to pay for the wall.
Directing the military to build a wall, possible out of military construction funds, could also be an option if the push by Inhofe and other defense hawks for a $750 billion defense budget pans out next year, he said.
“It depends on where we come down on Milcon, if we get enough I’d say yes,” Inhofe said. “But you have to clarify what I said … it depends on where we come down as to the amount of money we are going to have that is going to go to defense. If they are coming in with a low number, I’d say no because we have to continue to rebuild our defense.”
However, legal issues remain over whether the Pentagon has the authority to take over what has been primarily a domestic law enforcement role at the border. Shelby said he is not a constitutional lawyer and did not know if the military currently has the authority.
Democrats are also opposed to Trump’s proposal.
Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the Senate Armed Services ranking member, said using the military to secure the southern border is inappropriate and that the Pentagon does not appear to have the funding for construction of any wall.
“The real issue here is the money. There is nothing in the DOD budget that I could recognize as authorizing them to build a wall. I don’t know where they get the authority,” Reed said.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., an Armed Services member, simply called the president’s proposal to use the military inappropriate.
The Pentagon has already embarked on a short border wall project along its Barry Goldwater bombing range in Arizona. The estimated $450 million, 32-mile-long barrier is on land owned by the military, which makes it unique from much of the 2,000-mile border land.
Still, the project must follow the federally-mandated National Environmental Policy Act process and complete an environmental impact statement, which could take years.
The Navy tapped $11 million in Pentagon operations and maintenance funds when it signed a contract for the environmental work in September.
