Defense Department expected to announce billions more will go to border wall

The Defense Department, under White House pressure, is expected to announce this week that billions more in Pentagon funds will go toward the border wall, according to an administration official.

A senior Defense official also told CNN that a major announcement about the border will made this week.
While the White House is poised to ask for less money for the wall in the upcoming formal budget request to Congress, the administration appears to be increasingly relying on Pentagon funds to meet its goal of constructing additional barriers on the border. The Trump administration has argued that it does not need congressional approval to redirect military funds to the border wall.

Because the request is to ostensibly help combat drug smuggling, the Pentagon will be allowed to construct those barriers under its pre-existing "284" counter drug authority, which allows the Defense Department to build barriers, lighting and roads for the purpose of countering drug trafficking, according to the official.

The official said that following the completion of a Pentagon assessment of the request, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper would make a determination to approve all, some or none of the request.

It was not immediately clear Sunday whether Esper had formally green lit the latest request, but one official said that his approval was expected this week.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/09/politics/border-wall-funding-budget-white-house/index.html