Thom Tillis made headlines around the country last week when he abandoned his “constitutional conservatism” to cast a vote in favor of President Trump raiding military construction funding to pay for his border wall.
But that vote wasn’t just an embarrassing display of political cowardice. A new list of military construction projects potentially put at risk by Trump’s border wall includes millions of dollars for North Carolina military facilities, including “more than $100 million for water treatment plant improvements at Camp Lejeune.”
With one vote, Tillis managed to deal a serious blow both to his political career and to North Carolina military families.
AP: Military construction in Ga., Carolinas among possible projects cut to fund border wall
By AP | March 19, 2019
- “The Pentagon sent a 20-page list of military construction projects to Congress on Monday that might be slashed to pay for President Donald Trump’s wall along the Mexican border. Democrats expressed hope that by knowing which local projects could be targeted, lawmakers would be likelier to override Trump’s veto of a measure aimed at preventing the cuts.”
- “‘Now that members of Congress can see the potential impact this proposal could have on projects in their home states, I hope they will take that into consideration before the vote to override the President’s veto,’ Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement.”
- “The Pentagon document listed hundreds of projects envisioned around the U.S. and world worth around $12.9 billion. Not all will be subject to cuts, the Defense Department wrote, making it difficult to determine exactly which would be vulnerable.”
- “The list included more than $100 million for water treatment plant improvements at Camp Lejeune and airfield security and other work at Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station in North Carolina. That is the home state to Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who initially said he opposed Trump’s emergency but voted for it.Tillis, who could face a tough re-election fight next year, said the White House had shown a willingness to consider curbing presidential powers to declare future emergencies.”
Read the full story here.
Published: Mar 19, 2019