The Pentagon apparently plans to raid military pay and pension funds to finance Trump's border wall

A secondary border wall being constructed in California
(Image credit: Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)

The national emergency President Trump has declared to access $3.6 billion in military construction funds for his border wall is causing political heartburn among Republicans in Washington. But that $3.6 billion is actually the third pot of public money Trump intends to tap without authorization from Congress, after $601 million from a Treasury Department asset forfeiture account and $2.5 billion from a Pentagon drug interdiction fund.

That anti-drug account doesn't actually have $2.5 billion, The Washington Post reports, so the Pentagon is planning to shift $1 to $2 billion over from unused funds earmarked for military pay and pensions. "Imagine the Democrats making that proposal — that for whatever our project is, we're going to cut military pay and pensions," Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told The Associated Press on Thursday, following a briefing by acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.