The Pentagon will pay for another part of the Trump wall on the border with Mexico

The head of the US Department of Defense, Mark Esper, recently approved the construction of a 32-kilometer fence on the US-Mexico border. Carla Babb, Voice of America correspondent at the Pentagon, reported this with reference to a source in the US Department of Defense, writes “Voice of America«.

The interlocutor said that Esper approved the redistribution of the expected budget surpluses for the construction of new barriers at the border. To date, funds have been allocated from the Ministry of Defense funds for the construction of almost 250 km of barriers. Initially, this money was supposed to be spent on other purposes.

On the subject: Who Whom: Americans gather to build walls and stairs for her

In May, the former acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shenahan confirmed that the Pentagon sent money to erect the barrier, which, among other things, was to go to train security forces in Afghanistan. Then Shenahan said that he no longer plans to redirect budget funds to build the border.

On Tuesday, a Defense Ministry source told Voice of America that, in addition to funds earmarked for Afghanistan, the money previously pledged to recruit new staff was also reallocated to the modernization program for E-3 long-range radar detection aircraft and Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles , as well as at the expense of the Pentagon’s funds due to savings in the conclusion of contracts for the creation of cruise missiles.

On the subject: Deportation of your own accord: why emigrants return back

As ForumDaily wrote earlier:

• Previously hit the country the longest ever shutdown - temporary shutdown of a part of government bodies. Led to him wall financing dispute: The upper house of Congress proposed a draft budget in which $ 1,6 billion was allocated for the construction of barriers on the border with Mexico; Trump, who demanded more than 5 billion dollars for the project, refused to sign the budget, which provoked a halt in the work of the government.
• In the end, Donald Trump stopped the shutdown and announced the state of emergency in the country. He plans to use it to secure funding for a wall on the US-Mexico border, since under a national emergency the president has the power to reallocate funds allocated by Congress for defense needs. This is how the Pentagon became the “sponsor” of Trump’s border wall.