On Senate Floor, Shaheen Urges Support for Bipartisan Resolution Terminating President’s “Emergency” Declaration That Diverts Resources From the Troops, Their Families and Military Projects to Fund Campaign Promise

**In her remarks, Shaheen points to reports showing that the Trump administration is potentially planning to take national security funding next year--in addition to the funding taken this year—to pay for the President’s border wall**

(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) a member of both the Senate Armed Services and Appropriations Committees, spoke on the Senate floor last night urging the Senate to pass a bipartisan resolution that would terminate President Trump’s so-called “emergency” declaration that will take funds from military construction projects around the country in order to construct a border wall.

Shaheen highlighted several of the affected projects around the country, including a new middle school for the children of service members in Kentucky, improvements to a cyber-operations facility in Virginia and hundreds of millions of dollars for infrastructure to support the Department of Defense’s (DoD) European Deterrence Initiative, which helps counter Russian aggression in Europe. “While New Hampshire and Maine’s Shipyard and National Guard were spared from President Trump’s latest money grab, the same cannot be said for 127 other important military construction projects across this country… The impact of the President’s actions and Congress’ own complacency is painfully real to the men and women who serve our nation—these same men and women who are being deprived of the resources they need to complete their mission.”

Shaheen also pointed to reports that the Trump administration is planning to pitch its request to Congress to backfill funding taken for the border wall as “replenishment money… only to then turn around and take those funds [once again] to build the wall on the southern border.” “This type of deception from the administration makes funding the government extremely difficult for Congress, because we can’t trust and we don’t know if the President is negotiating in good faith.”

Shaheen concluded by stressing the responsibility she and her colleagues have to protect Congress’ constitutional authority. “The authority of the Congress is very clear – the power of the purse is held by the Legislative branch, and those powers were enumerated for the very reason we are here today: to shield against an overreaching Executive. This isn’t about Democrat versus Republican, this is about whether or not Congress votes to uphold its powers and responsibilities that are enshrined in the Constitution… So I would urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to protect our constitutional authority as members of Congress, to defend our national security. Support the resolution to terminate President Trump’s emergency declaration.”

Since the President first announced his emergency declaration and projects at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard were initially listed as potential targets to lose funding, Senator Shaheen has fiercely advocated on behalf of the Shipyard and worked to defend the funding secured by Congress. Senator Shaheen is a member of the Senate Armed Services and Appropriations Committees and has fought tirelessly to provide funding to the Shipyard. The funding for three of the four projects at the Shipyard that the President’s declaration previously threatened were passed by Congress and signed into law in September of 2018.  The fourth project, the Paint, Blast and Rubber facility, was funded in 2017. Shaheen was also a cosponsor of this year’s earlier bipartisan resolution to terminate the President’s National Emergency Declaration, which was subsequently vetoed by the President and failed to be overridden in the House of Representatives.

Watch Shaheen’s remarks here.