Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., accused the Trump administration Sunday of withholding a list of military projects that could lose funding to build a border wall as part his national emergency declaration.
During an interview on CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” Kaine said the White House fears angering lawmakers before a key upcoming vote.
“This is the White House wanting to hold the list back, because they worry if senators and House members saw the potential projects that would be ransacked to pay for the president’s wall, they would lose votes,” said Kaine, a member of the Armed Services Committee.
“I don’t think the White House wants us to see the list before the override vote,” Kaine said, adding he “absolutely” believes the Trump administration is trying to influence the outcome of the vote.
Kaine was referring to an upcoming vote in the House to override President Trump’s veto of a resolution of disapproval approved by both chambers in Congress opposing his use of emergency authority to build a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border. To override Trump’s veto requires the vote of two-thirds of members in the House and Senate.
Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney rejected Kaine’s accusation in a separate interview with “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
He said the White House had not yet developed a list of impacted military projects to give to Congress, and added “it could be a while” before Congress receives one. “There is no list of projects that are absolutely going to not be funded so that the wall can be [built],” Mulvaney said. “I know of no list.”
Mulvaney said the White House has a broad concept of what types of projects could be affected, and has told Congress of some guidelines, such as there being no impact to projects that were scheduled to start in fiscal 2019. The administration is planning to use about $3.6 billion in military construction funding to pay for the $8 billion border wall.
“I know of the universe of things that might be delayed or reduced, or cut in a very extreme circumstance, that could be used to fund a wall,” Mulvaney said. “But a list of a decision that’s already been made saying this money will be cut and spent over there, that’s not been made yet.”
Mulvaney said “we fully expect” the veto override vote to fail in the House. If that were to happen, it would not advance to the Senate.
