Pentagon Awards Nearly $1 Billion in Two New Contracts for President Trump's Border Wall

[TexasTowelie]

The Pentagon announced two military contracts Tuesday worth $976 million to construct a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico, marking the first step toward President Donald Trump’s long-promised goal since he declared a national emergency nearly two months ago.

The Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $789 million contract to the Galveston, Texas-based company, SLSCO Ltd., for “border replacement wall construction” in Santa Teresa, N. M., near El Paso, Texas. Barnard Construction Co. Inc., of Bozeman, Mont., was awarded a contract worth $187 million for “design-bid-build construction project for primary pedestrian wall replacement” in Yuma, Ariz. Both projects, announced on the Defense Department website, are slated for completion in fall 2020.

To pay for these new barriers, the Pentagon is diverting up to $1 billion to support the DHS to block “drug-smuggling corridors” in those areas. The Defense Department, triggered by Trump’s emergency declaration to build a border wall, took the unprecedented tactic of notifying Congress about the transfer of funding, rather than requesting the money through the appropriations process. The move drew fire from Democrats and Republicans who saw it as a way for the administration to sidestep Congress’ Constitutional power over government spending.

Defense Department officials played what amounts to a bureaucratic shell game to get the money. The Pentagon took leftover money that was allocated for military personnel and transferred it into a counter-drug account. That move gives the military authority to take measures to support federal law enforcement efforts to stop drug trafficking.

Read more: http://time.com/5567024/pentagon-1-billion-two-new-contracts-trump-border-wall/

[Ohiogal]

1. Why don't we

just save time and money and disband Congress altogether?

Obviously they only delay whatever the Orange King demands. F*all whether it’s what the people in this country want, or not.

[Tech]

2. They cannot figure out why they are having difficulties recruiting. Hmmm.

[sinkingfeeling]

3. Every penny should be withheld from new funding. Courts

are full of suits against this project.

[htuttle]

4. Time to look into ownership of those companies

They had them picked out before they got the funding -- it takes far more time for a typical federal government bidding process than the time since the emergency declaration.

This is precisely how the mob rips off government at various levels. Who owns them, who do they donate to, who are their associates?

[duforsure]

5. Before this is all over

Wonder how much of that will be funneled into trump's pockets using his campaign PAC"S.

[Historic NY]

6. To pay for these new barriers, the Pentagon is diverting up to $1 billion to support the DHS to

block “drug-smuggling corridors” in those areas.