A week ago, the Congress avoided a government shutdown and passed an omnibus spending bill that funds the entire federal government for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends September 30. President Trump voiced his displeasure with the $1.3 trillion price tag, but held his nose and signed the bill. He rightly realized that a government shutdown would make no sense and provide no political advantage. With Congress heading out of town for a recess, a veto would have meant a shutdown.
So he signed it, while grumbling with some justification about a 2,300-page bill that clearly no one would have had time to read.
$659.6 Billion for Defense, But only 90 miles of wall
The total amount appropriated for the Department of Defense, when combined with the continuing resolutions that have funded the government thus far, is $659.6 billion. The bill included a 2.4 percent pay raise for service members and a big boost in aviation budgets across the board, including money for extra fighter planes that were not on the original budget request, but which the Pentagon included on its “unfunded requirements” list.
While the House Appropriations Committee’s press release bragged that the omnibus funded “more than 90 miles of new and improved border wall system to secure our homeland,” that figure was far short of the $25 billion the president wanted in order to fulfill a central campaign promise.
On Sunday, Trump tweeted about the size of the defense budget and how he felt the wall was a national security issue. “Build WALL through M!” the tweet concluded.
But the president clearly doesn’t read Daily Intel, or he’d understand it doesn’t work that way.
Anti-DEFICIENCY and Reprogramming
One of the most fundamental checks on American executive power is Congress’ power of the purse. The Executive Branch may not spend a dime without Congress giving it permission. While appropriations bills largely skip the programmatic details, apart from directing large-scale programs like aircraft and ships, the National Defense Authorization Act includes detailed funding tables specifying exactly how the Pentagon is to use the appropriations for each account (personnel, procurement, operations and maintenance, etc.).
Congress doesn’t pull this information out of the air; it’s largely built from the DOD’s detailed budget justification documents that accompany the president’s budget submission each February. These documents are based on each program’s Program Objective Memorandum, the POM, which lays out the money required for the next five years. Budget justification documents, especially for the procurement accounts, include very detailed information on how programs will use their dollars, and when.
The Pentagon is allowed to “reprogram” some of the money to account for unanticipated circumstances. sometimes a program can’t spend its appropriation fast enough, and another program needs a boost. In these cases, the Pentagon notifies Congress of its intent. In some cases, such as when the dollar amounts are large (in Pentagon terms) it needs express permission.
Furthermore, the Anti-Deficiency Act puts individual federal employees on the hook for money spent on something that Congress did not specifically authorize, or money spent in excess of what Congress authorized.
The president seemed to infer carving border wall money out of the DOD budget was simply a matter of shuffling a few things around. It’s not. Not remotely.
The wall needs to stand on its own
Clearly, $700 billion in base and wartime funding is a lot of money. If it were to be paid in $10 bills, the pile would measure 125 feet by 200 feet, and stretch 1,000 feet tall. But that money comes with lots of strings. It isn’t simply a check that the Treasury deposits into the DOD’s bank account and says, “Have fun! Don’t spend it all in one place!”
As big a number as $700 billion is, there just isn’t a spare $25 billion lying around. The bottom line is that taking $25 billion out of the defense budget to build a border wall would undo everything the department has done to get itself back on track. Sixteen years of war have taken their toll, and this year’s budget only begins to repair the damage.
Building the wall is not necessarily a bad idea, but it’s one the president is going to have to sell to Congress on its own. Or, you know, get Mexico to pay for it.
