Posted on 12/19/2018 10:53:56 AM PST by 11th_VA
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP reasserted a directive Wednesday – that the Pentagon quietly dismissed last week – that the military will assume responsibility for building a wall along the southern U.S. border.
Trump's announcement follows reports that the president withdrew his demand for $5 billion in funding for a border wall amid a lack of support in Congress as lawmakers seek a funding compromise that will keep the government open. Trump also repeated claims that a new trade agreement with Canada and Mexico will generate revenue that will fulfill his campaign promise of forcing America's southern neighbor to pay for the wall.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders indicated Tuesday that the administration was looking for other elements of the government that could fulfill one of the president's signature campaign promises.
"Mexico is paying (indirectly) for the Wall through the new USMCA, the replacement for NAFTA!" Trump wrote on Twitter, referring to the revised version of the North American Free Trade Agreement that he has rebranded as the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. "Far more money coming to the U.S. Because of the tremendous dangers at the Border, including large scale criminal and drug inflow, the United States Military will build the Wall!"
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Army headquarters currently overseeing domestic operations along the U.S. border deferred questions to the Pentagon, which did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
But on Dec. 11, following Trump's initial claims that he would direct the military to begin wall construction, Pentagon spokesman Army Lt. Col. Jamie Davis said, "to date, there is no plan to build sections of the wall."
"However, Congress has provided options under Title 10 U.S. Code that could permit the Defense Department to fund border barrier projects, such as in support of counter drug operations or national emergencies."
The statement from a department that regularly touts its ability to respond to directives immediately was seen as a way to push back on an unplanned demand from the president without openly contradicting the commander in chief.
Trump has hinted at the idea of using the military to pay for or build the wall, including in March. Federal agencies, however, cannot reappropriate funds without congressional approval. And top legislators on Capitol Hill have questioned whether Trump's authority to deploy the military could extend to building a permanent barrier.
[ "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," Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, said, according to The Washington Examiner.
Trump has previously used his executive power to deploy the military in support of domestic border issues without an apparent funding mechanism. In October, shortly before the November midterm elections, he announced that thousands of U.S. service members would temporarily deploy to border crossings in Texas, Arizona and California and unguarded portions of the southern border to help build fencing and wire barriers, and provide logistic support to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. Trump claimed this was a necessary response to a caravan of hundreds of migrants approaching the U.S. from Central America.
Top military officials, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, pushed back at the time on Trump's assertions that the military would serve as a police force, saying its responsibilities were limited to logistics and support roles.
That deployment is expected to cost tens of millions of dollars, which will likely come out of the Defense Department's operating budget.
....”Apparently the Bill Crystal contingent of the Conservative Movement (TM) have become the loudest voices in Freeperville”......
Yes....or at the least it’s like reading a thread at DU site.
Could be they just forget we’re in a political war and even they want to go back to how things were. Could have battle fatigue too.
Well,
Damn,
You know
That’s just like,
You know,
You’re Opinions,
Man!
Big Lebowski quote.
Do Not Despair!
Were you and are you now there on the border amihow?
IS anyone there actually reporting directly to you?
Do you oversee anything whatsoever going on at the border?
Do you attend any of the meetings of our military?
Are you engaged with any of the officials on either side of the border?
I suspect you’re taking ALL you clues from the media.
Agreed,
Thanks!
Yes, the did a fantastic job of handling the caravan.
Yes, I used to enjoy is SoF pieces.
I can relate....and the propaganda threads aren't helping....far too much passed around here for my taste......
Yes one has to often hunt for favorable or upbeat articles on what's being done that's great news.....unfortunately it's just easier for some to unload the libs junk writings with the excuse we ‘need to know our enemies”
blood in the streets...... that is the recourse
Thanks for the good info.
Really. Bunch of Eeyores! I am very hopeful that wall will indeed get built and I blame Congress not Trump for any delays. Progress HAS been made and I believe it will continue to progress.
I agree 100%.
I don’t disagree with you in general, but please keep in mind that HE is the one that established the expectations that everyone is holding him accountable for.
He never said anything about taking two terms to do anything. Quite the contrary, he kept telling everyone it would go into effect right away.
The danger in setting expectations unrealistically high is that you will fail and disappoint.
Such as, as recently as four months ago he stated “This is the last budget bill I will sign that doesn’t have the border security and wall money”. Yet word is he now is going to prevent another govt shutdown by signing the budget bill.
Do you get it? It has nothing to do with not supporting trump. It has everything to do with squandering your reelection chances by making bad choices. And, no, you should never take trump literally or you definitely will be disappointed.
“...that the Pentagon quietly dismissed last week.”
_____________________________________________________
‘eff the Pentagon, and the same goes for that globalist Mattis too.
If the military won’t send troops to the border, fire the generals and lower rank officers who refuse. And get a new Secretary of Defense while we’re at it.
The President gave the democrats everything they wanted in last year’s budget in order to get a $hitload of money for the military.
If the military won’t defend our borders, cut their damn budget.
Save the eeyore BS for the crowd over at CTH. We don’t engage in mindless brain dead cheerleading here, at least most of us don’t. Nor do we engage in name calling those that have half a brain and recognize trouble ahead when they see it.
You obviously picked up nothing by losing the House.
Maybe you would be a lot more emotionally secure joining the group depending on the secret plan to rescue trump from the democrats, the gop establishment, the deep state aNd the Clinton Obama cabal because looking at realism definitely is not your cup of tea.
“....a cut of Sen. Thune saying the military won’t be used to build the wall because the military is to be used to protect our country.”
________________________________________________________
‘eff Thune. If a bunch of drunk driving illegals run over Thune and members of his freakin’ family on Christmas Eve, maybe, just maybe, the retarded RINO will wake up.
But I doubt it.
Why so hostile? No need for it. This is Free Republic. We are supposed to be among friends.
Nothing could make Eeyore happy. Let’s not be that way.
My response is because that expression only exists at CTH where every contrary view is viewed as defeatism worthy of burning at the stake. If you didn’t mean it that way then I apologize to you.
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