White House Plans Cash Grab for Border Wall

[babylonsister]

https://politicalwire.com/2019/02/12/white-house-plans-cash-grab-for-border-wall/

White House Plans Cash Grab for Border Wall
February 12, 2019 at 7:00 am EST By Taegan Goddard

Politico: “The White House is firming up plans to redirect unspent federal dollars as a way of funding President Trump’s border wall without taking the dramatic step of invoking a national emergency. Done by executive order, this plan would allow the White House to shift money from different budgetary accounts without congressional approval, circumventing Democrats who refuse to give Trump anything like the $5.7 billion he has demanded.”

“Nor would it require a controversial emergency declaration. The emerging consensus among acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and top budget officials is to shift money from two Army Corps of Engineers’ flood control projects in Northern California, as well as from disaster relief funds intended for California and Puerto Rico. The plan will also tap unspent Department of Defense funds for military construction, like family housing or infrastructure for military bases.”

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Isn't this called EMBEZZLEMENT in terms of business?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embezzlement

[DeminPennswoods]

2. You can't just move money without Congressional

authorization. AFAIK, MILCON funds are fenced meaning they cannot even be moved to other military construction projects, let alone other DoD spending or spending outside of DoD.

[dumbcat]

9. Well, actually they can, and do ....

Before I retired I was a Certified Army Comptroller. Money was "stolen" and moved between accounts all the time. Moving between appropriations categories is more difficult, but doable. There is enough wishy-washy language in the Appropriations Bills to allow it. How do you think the Pentagon "lost" those billions of dollars?

[DontBooVote]

10. Rumsfeld announced on 9/10/01 that "trillions" (2.7, if I recall) "are missing". That was

17+ years ago. Nobody cared and there's no telling how much more has gone missing before that, or since.

[DeminPennswoods]

11. Agree, money can be moved between some accounts, but

moving MILCON dollars is really hard, if not impossible. Occassionally, my Navy command looked longingly at the unspent MILCON money, but we couldn't get it because it was fenced for very specific construction projects. It wasn't even that easy for my command to move money in the same accounts authorized for the exact same purposes between programs in the same division. But maybe Navy comptrollers are stricter than the Army's.

[dumbcat]

12. I agree the Navy was pretty strict

I served on a number of Joint and DoD committees. The Navy (when they agreed to play with us at all) were always very strict and tended to follow regulations to an extreme. We in the Army were a little more flexible. The Air Force just laughed at most regulations and di what they wanted (and mostly got away with it, and with very little publicity.)

[DeminPennswoods]

14. Air Force learned from the mistakes of all its

older sibling services. Navy and Marines always tried to work around parts shortages and fly their assigned missions. Not the AF, they just grounded planes, then screamed they couldn't fly. They abused the requisition priority system frequently, too, to jump ahead of the line.

[Iliyah]

3. They have already been doing that . . . .

WH taking monies from federal businesses to ICE and boarder security (such funds FEMA and others). At that time, the house was controlled by GOPers.

[sinkingfeeling]

4. Then time to file articles of impeachment.

[C_U_L8R]

5. Congress giveth. Congress taketh away.

Time to cut all misused appropriations.

[NoMoreRepugs]

6. LittleFingers is going to have to fight Pelosi and company

for EVERY dollar for that medieval wall. With Madame Speaker being our Champion in the fight I sure like our chances.

[spanone]

7. So then, what's the point of Congress?

[Corgigal]

8. Time for him to hit the door.

Yo military peeps, he's stealing from you. Family housing on bases, are very important to active duty. These little, normally townhouses, is where married couples with children live in base because they can't afford off base housing cost.

Doesn't surprise me what he's doing to Puerto Rico or California. We just need to pass laws to allow a Puerto Rico to vote. Knock out one of the fly over states.

[DeminPennswoods]

15. Puerto Rico just needs to vote to become a state

They seem to like Commonwealth status, but maybe Trump and his hurrican response has changed their minds.

[tinrobot]

13. Stealing money from disaster relief, flood control, and military families.

Jeeez.