House defense panel leaders unite to oppose diverting DOD money to wall

The top Democrat and Republican on the House Armed Services Committee made clear today they do not support the Pentagon's decision to reprogram $3.8 billion in weapon spending toward construction of President Trump's southern border wall.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) and Ranking Member Mac Thornberry (R-TX) told Defense Secretary Mark Esper during a hearing today they believe reprogramming the money without the consent of Congress is an alarming usurpation of constitutional authority, despite Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the border.

Smith warned that moving the $3.8 billion from weapon systems, while simultaneously submitting tens of billions of dollars in "unfunded priorities" undercuts the Pentagon's argument for greater resources.

"This is an enormous problem . . . simply walking in and taking money out of the Pentagon budget," he said. "I think that is very, very damaging to the Pentagon. The message it sends is the Pentagon has got plenty of money."

Thornberry, who said he supports the wall, but opposes the reprogramming on constitutional grounds, warned that the Pentagon's ability to redirect funding could be restricted in the future.

"This is not taking excess funds, this is substituting the judgment of the department . . . of the administration . . . for the judgement of Congress by reducing specific weapon systems that have been authorized and appropriated," he said. "This is a deeper issue than the wall. . . . I am deeply concerned about where we're headed with the constitutional issue."

Smith and Thornberry both sent the Pentagon a letter saying the Pentagon is putting its reprogramming authority at risk.

"This committee takes seriously the department's recommendations and holds many hearings and briefing with department personnel to determine the best way to meet defense needs with taxpayer funding," the letter states. "When Congress acts, the Department of Defense cannot ignore congressional will in pursuit of their own priorities. The steps taken in this reprogramming put the department at risk to lose flexibility Congress has historically granted to effectively manage the resources provided."

Aside from restricting DOD in the future, it is unclear what actions Congress could take to block the wall reprogramming, as courts thus far have sided with the Trump administration.

Democrats, meanwhile, have long opposed Trump's wall and were unsuccessful last year in attempts to block DOD’s diversion of more than $6 billion of defense funds to the wall, with $3.6 billion coming from deferred military construction projects.

During the hearing, Smith said he expects another $3.5 billion to shifted to the wall this year by deferring military construction projects.

Esper defended the reprogramming by saying it was order by the president, who commands DOD.

"That's our role in this process," he said.