President Trump has followed through on his in order to feed his border wall obsession. In fact, he鈥檚 gone further, stating that he鈥檒l loot his cabinet departments, including the military, if necessary.
After Trump refused to sign a , which would have kept the government open through February 8, 2019, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders suggested that the administration will somehow find money to pay for a border wall by raiding 鈥渆very agency鈥� for dollars. 鈥淲e鈥檙e looking at every avenue available to us,鈥� Sanders . 鈥淭he president asked every one of his cabinet secretaries to look for funding that can be used鈥� to build the wall.
Unfortunately there are bad precedents in the Trump administration for this sort of sham accounting: At the beginning of hurricane season, for example, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shifted nearly in disaster relief funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to use for ICE detentions.
We have since seen a number of proposals from both the Trump administration and Congress to pay for Trump鈥檚 wall fetish. One was to provide $1.6 billion for his border wall along with a whopping for Trump to use on 鈥渋mmigration-related issues.鈥� House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi accurately described this a 鈥�.鈥�
There has also been discussion of different types of long-term funding bills that would last until the end of the fiscal year, in September 2019. This could be a trap that gives Trump much of what he wants on the wall: Although a year-long funding bill would reopen the government and avoid more negotiations over DHS funding, it would also present a serious danger of providing Trump with massive resources to build additional border barriers.
This is because such a bill 鈥� called a 鈥渃ontinuing resolution鈥� 鈥� replicates funding from the previous fiscal year. The 2018 spending bill for DHS, passed by Congress in March, included $1.375 billion in funding for border barriers 鈥� the same level of funding that, without explicit changes from Congress, would be included in a full-year continuing resolution for the 2019 fiscal year.
Because the 2018 border funding prohibited the use of Trump鈥檚 wall prototypes and specified projects for 鈥渇encing,鈥� 鈥渞eplacement walls鈥� or 鈥渓evee walls,鈥� some incorrectly assume that the bill did not include wall funding. But as the president himself has recently , there is little meaningful difference between a border wall and border fencing. Border communities know that they both lead to government seizures of private property, irreparable damage to wildlife and the environment, and more migrant deaths.
Congress has a way out, and it doesn鈥檛 involve rewarding the Trump administration for its attacks on immigrants: A continuing resolution could be amended to explicitly divert border wall funds so they don鈥檛 fuel Trump鈥檚 cruel border policies. After the tragic in CBP custody, even the agency鈥檚 Commissioner Kevin McAleenan has indirectly suggested how funds could be better used. He has testified that Congress could appropriate $4 billion to cover the 鈥溾�� 鈥� which is presently invoked to justify the refusal to allow asylum-seekers to exercise their legal right to ask for refuge 鈥� and a 鈥渂udget for for children鈥� in new facilities to replace clearly inadequate and dangerous Border Patrol jails.
If Congress needs more time to debate these amendments, it should take up the stopgap bill that the Senate passed last week to fund the government until February. Federal workers and contractors should not bear the brunt of Trump鈥檚 shutdown.
Given that even CBP is talking about funding priorities other than border barriers, there is no reason for the new Congress to give in to Trump. Congress also needs to limit Trump鈥檚 ability to raid other budgets, including the military鈥檚, for wall money.
The administration is already moving money around to fulfill Trump鈥檚 anti-immigrant agenda: In November, The Daily Beast that DHS 鈥渜uietly moved nearly $100 million dollars out of other areas of its budget鈥� 鈥� including the FEMA transfer to ICE before hurricane season 鈥� to support its detention and deportation dragnet. Members of Congress have to the administration鈥檚 desire to divert $450 million in Department of Defense funding toward wall construction in Arizona.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement needed the additional funds to finance its detention of a record number of people 鈥� there are in ICE detention on average per day, significantly higher than the previous record of funded by Congress for 2018. In other words, even after Congress funded ICE detention at unprecedented levels, the agency ignored its budget and outspent its account. And now it鈥檚 asking Congress not only to bail it out but also to give DHS 鈥� the department of family separations, the tear gassing of families, and the fatal neglect of children 鈥� a raise.
Lawmakers who oppose any border wall spending should know that they have the public on their side: Over 60 percent of Americans Trump鈥檚 border wall, and think it should not be a congressional priority. Polls have also found that are strongly opposed to the wall. Just 35 percent of those most recently about the shutdown said they backed including money for the wall in a congressional spending bill. And only 25 percent said they supported Trump shutting down the government over the matter.
Members of Congress should hold fast in their refusal to fund Trump鈥檚 obsession with achieving his monument to brutality at the border.
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