The Speaker’s Lobby: Wall Money
12/14/2018
FOX’s Chad Pergram discusses the funding for the border wall on today’s ‘Speaker’s Lobby’:
I’m Chad Pergram with the Speaker’s Lobby.
President Trump suggested that if Congress fails to approve money for his border wall, he would simply shift money around and have the military build the wall.
Not quite… There are multiple problems with that statement.
Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution states “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.”
In other words, if Congress doesn’t appropriate money for a specific project, the executive branch can’t just take the money and use it for another purpose.
Congress already approved spending bills for the Pentagon and military construction projects. Not Homeland Security.
If the President wanted to build the wall using those accounts, Mr. Trump. should have moved sooner.
That said, there is a process for the administration to request a transfer of money from one fund to another. But taking money allocated for the military and redirecting it to the Department of Homeland Security requires the blessing of the leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, the House and Senate Homeland Security Committees and the House and Senate Appropriations Committees.
Defense hawks just scored a big increase in Pentagon funding and could be reluctant to give it up for the wall.
With the Speaker’s Lobby, Chad Pergram, FOX News.
Follow Chad on Twitter: @ChadPergram
