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Pentagon restarts projects defunded for Trump's wall, helping some GOP senators
Source: Washington Post
Pentagon restarts projects defunded for Trump’s wall, helping some GOP senators
By Paul Sonne
9/3/2020, 8:00:00 a.m.
President Trump’s decision to use Pentagon money to pay for his border wall created problems on the campaign trail for Republican senators seeking reelection in states that lost military construction projects to the president’s effort.
But the Defense Department’s move in recent months to restart many of those domestic projects has provided political cover to several Republican incumbents facing tough reelections.
Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper announced in April that funding would be restored to 22 of the 34 construction projects at domestic military bases that were defunded last year. In a memo, Esper indicated that the Pentagon would obtain the $545.5 million needed to revive the projects by diverting funds from projects overseas — many designed to shore up defenses against Russia.
Some of the revived projects are in states with two Democrats representing them in the Senate. But others are hot-button projects in states such as North Carolina, Colorado and Arizona, where Republican senators in competitive races had been taking heat over their defunding.
-snip-
By Paul Sonne
9/3/2020, 8:00:00 a.m.
President Trump’s decision to use Pentagon money to pay for his border wall created problems on the campaign trail for Republican senators seeking reelection in states that lost military construction projects to the president’s effort.
But the Defense Department’s move in recent months to restart many of those domestic projects has provided political cover to several Republican incumbents facing tough reelections.
Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper announced in April that funding would be restored to 22 of the 34 construction projects at domestic military bases that were defunded last year. In a memo, Esper indicated that the Pentagon would obtain the $545.5 million needed to revive the projects by diverting funds from projects overseas — many designed to shore up defenses against Russia.
Some of the revived projects are in states with two Democrats representing them in the Senate. But others are hot-button projects in states such as North Carolina, Colorado and Arizona, where Republican senators in competitive races had been taking heat over their defunding.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/pentagon-restarts-projects-defunded-for-trumps-wall-helping-some-gop-senators/2020/09/02/f2e9056c-e3fa-11ea-ade1-28daf1a5e919_story.html
