WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine joined Democratic Whip Dick Durbin along with 29 of their Democratic colleagues to introduce the Restoring Military Priorities Act of 2020.  The bill would reverse and restore the Trump Administration’s recent short-sighted transfer of $3.8 billion from Pentagon priorities to build part of President Trump’s border wall.  The bill also reduces DoD’s transfer authority so that DoD cannot once again attempt to divert additional funding for President Trump’s border wall from Congressionally appropriated DoD funds. 

The most recent DoD reprogramming targeted the men and women of the National Guard and a variety of additional programs funded by Congress to address shortfalls that were in many cases identified by military leaders.  This was the third time in less than one year that the Administration has used this unilateral process to bypass Congress and divert funding to President Trump’s border wall.

“Clearly, this Administration is not afraid to drain essential funding from the Department of Defense to build an ineffective wall across our southern border. Therefore, Congress has a responsibility to make sure that these dollars actually go towards supporting our national security interests and providing our men and women in uniform the resources they need to carry out their duties,” said Warner. “Our legislation will reverse the President’s irresponsible decision to divert $3.8 billion from crucial defense projects in Virginia and across our nation, and will make sure that the DoD cannot bypass Congress in the future and give away essential Defense funding.”

“President Trump is again raiding defense programs to fund his own political pet project. Our bill would reverse this reckless reprogramming and protect the Defense Department’s funding to ensure that it is used to support our men and women in uniform as well as the critical national security projects that Congress initially allocated the money for,” Kaine said.

In the spring of 2019, the Defense Department transferred $2.5 billion in funding to be used to build part of President Trump’s border wall, and the President later raided an additional $3.6 billion in military construction funds for his wall.  Earlier this month, the Defense Department reprogrammed another $3.8 billion from the men and women of the National Guard and a variety of programs added by Congress to address shortfalls that were in many cases identified by military leaders as critical equipment. 

In January, it was reported that President Trump intended to raid $7.2 billion in DoD funds this year to pay for his wall, diverting funding from military families and forcing American taxpayers to pay for his wall.

Warner and Kaine have been outspoken against President Trump’s plan to pull money from military construction projects to build his border wall since it was initially announced last year. Kaine has demanded details on the projects that will lose funding and called on his colleagues in the Senate to oppose the Administration’s efforts.  

Full text of the legislation is available here.

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