Border wall could tap $311 million in Hawaii military construction

The House Appropriations Committee has identified $311.4 million in fiscal 2019 Hawaii military construction projects “vulnerable” to being diverted by the Trump administration to help build a portion of a southern border wall under the president’s declaration of a national emergency.

The Appropriations Committee said it compiled a worldwide list of military construction projects for which funding has been allocated but not yet obligated “and that therefore are vulnerable to having funds diverted to the border wall under the national emergency declaration.”

The Trump administration said $3.6 billion in military construction project funding would be redirected as part of an $8 billion plan to build more than 234 miles of steel “bollard,” or post, border wall.

“I don’t believe the current situation on our southern border warrants a declaration of national emergency. That question is rightly addressed in both the courts and in Congress,” U.S. Rep. Ed Case said in a statement Wednesday. “Even if it was warranted, I don’t believe the president is authorized to divert funding for specific military construction or other projects that were specifically authorized and funded by Congress for those purposes to pay for his plans for the southern border.”

Hawaii joined California and 14 other states in filing a lawsuit Monday in Northern California alleging that President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration and diversion of funds are unconstitutional.

In declaring a national emergency Friday, Trump said the border environment presents a security and humanitarian crisis that threatens core national security interests.

“I ran on a very simple slogan: Make America Great Again,” Trump said. “If you’re going to have drugs pouring across the border, if you’re going to have human traffickers pouring across the border in areas where we have no protection, in areas where we don’t have a barrier, then very hard to make America great again.”

The more than $500 million, 360,000-square-foot Fort Shafter command center, which would consolidate U.S. Army Pacific headquarters into one facility and support requirements across the Indo- Pacific, was started in 2012 and is expected to be completed in 2022, officials said.

The Trump administration said it would look at redirecting funding from “lower priority” military construction projects and would make sure “that nothing impacts lethality and readiness.” The plan is to “backfill,” or reimburse the Defense Department for the projects in the 2020 budget, officials said.

The Pentagon earlier this month said it was sending 3,750 more troops to the border for a force of about 4,350 active duty and 2,200 National Guard members.

The national emergency proclamation states that the defense secretary shall order as many units or members of the reserve to active duty as appropriate to assist in the border mission. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said Saturday a “mission analysis” of “the appropriate use of those resources, how many, where” was underway.

No request for Hawaii National Guard troops has been made, officials from Gov. David Ige’s office said Wednesday.

FUNDS MAY BE DIVERTED

The projects and amounts that could be affected include:

>> $105 million for the ongoing construction of a Fort Shafter U.S. Army Pacific command/control facility.

>> $17 million at Hickam for an F-22 Raptor fighter facility.

>> $45 million at Pearl Harbor for a dry dock waterfront facility.

>> $66.1 million at the Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps base for a corrosion control hangar.

>> $78.32 million for a Pearl City water transmission line.