Durbin, Duckworth reject shifting billions in military funding to pay for border wall

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, Vice Chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, explained Wednesday why he was among the senators who voted to reject President Donald Trump's emergency declaration in order to fulfill his campaign promise of building a wall at the southern border.

The senators voted on a resolution to end the emergency declaration 54-41.

Billions of dollars needed for wall construction would have been diverted from military funding.

"For the second time in six months, Republicans and Democrats in the Senate chose the Constitution over the President's so-called 'national emergency' declaration," Durbin said. "The Senate must continue to reject the President's efforts to divert funding meant for our military in order to put it toward his ineffective wall on the southern border."

U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Illinois' junior senator and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, offered her opinion.

"Donald Trump's failure to convince Congress to force Americans to pay for his wall may be a national embarrassment for him, but it is not a national emergency," she said. "Mexico isn't going to pay for this wall; our troops and their families are paying for it as Trump steals critical funds intended to support our military. His emergency declaration isn't really about border security - it's about politics. And Donald Trump will continue violating law after law until those in a position to do something say 'enough.'

"I'm glad the majority of my colleagues joined together to reject this brazen power grab that harms our national security, harms our military and their families and threatens to set a far-reaching, dangerous precedent."

Earlier this month, the Department of Defense announced it would divert $3.6 billion from military construction projects to pay for President Donald Trump's border wall by canceling 127 military construction projects around the world, as well as in 26 U.S. states and territories.

President Donald Trump had already diverted $2.5 billion from the military earlier this year for his border wall, bringing the total to $6.1 billion.

Last week, a report from The Washington Post stated that there would be "dire outcomes" for military families if Republicans didn't terminate the President's emergency declaration.