In yet another example of a move that shows President Trump isn't really a Republican, he's acknowledged the federal government has spent more than it needs on the military and he stands prepared to cut back its budget by billions.
No, you won't hear any campaign commercials touting Trump as a "cut the military" candidate. But under his watch, that's what he's doing.
Just the other day, the Defense Department announced a plan to shift $3.83 billion from its war-fighting budget. Will the congressionally authorized money be used to reduce the nation's massive levels of deficit spending? No. The Washington Post first reported the plan to trim the billions from the military and shift them to The Wall.
No, that's not a Pink Floyd tribute. It's an orange Donald one.
Donald Trump has spent $18.4 billion on his promised border wall so far during his presidency. Last year, he took $6.1 billion from the Pentagon for work on the southern border of the United States. The Pentagon's most recently announced shift brings to total of $7.2 billion the White House plans to shift from the Pentagon's overall budget toward the wall.
OK, so billions of dollars get tossed around our federal government like it's pennies in a jar. What's the real impact?
Documents show the Pentagon is willing to give up two F-35 fighter jets and two Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft for the Marines; one P-8A reconnaissance aircraft for the Navy; and four C-130J transport places and eight MQ-9 Reaper drones for the Air Force. The money also would otherwise go to programs to update Humvees and trucks for the Army and buy $1.3 billion in new equipment for the National Guard and Reserves. The cutback would also impact some development of future Navy vessels.
Do you believe Trump's wall is more important to the nation's security than those planes, trucks, helicopters, drones, Humvees and replacement parts for the folks stationed around the world to serve U.S. interests?
I'm not suggesting Trump is doing anything illegal, although there has been some litigation involved in his raiding of Pentagon coffers. There are laws that allow the president to shift money for specific purposes, such as drug eradication and enforcement, and the White House argues that's exactly what the president is doing.
But even some Republicans aren't comfortable with robbing the men and women in uniform of congressionally authorized funding for the wall. Congress has provided some money for the wall, but not as much as President Trump wants. The National Review reported Congress in December agreed to earmark $1.375 billion for border wall construction in the budget for 2020, while the Trump administration had originally sought $5 billion.
Trump is a "my way or the highway" kind of president, so his administration goes searching for ways to get the money without convincing Congress of the need. There's no art of the deal.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, came up with this justification for Trump's diversion of Pentagon funding: "The problem is, Congress has failed to appropriate adequate funds for border security, which is the reason his hand was forced."
So, apparently, according to Cornyn's logic, when Congress says "no," the president can't be blamed for bypassing Congress to get what Congress has denied him. That doesn't sound like something the Founding Fathers would have embraced.
The Washington Post reported the Pentagon justified the shift by saying the money wasn't needed yet for its programs. Which means the federal government is again spending money it doesn't have fully expecting that money will, in the future, be replaced by other funding because Congress and the president doesn't know how to stop spending.
And the national debt keeps growing and our military loses out on equipment it actually needs.
Commentary on 02/23/2020