Kingsley stands to lose $10 million for wall funding, says Sen. Merkley

Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley on Wednesday decried the Trump Administration’s decision to fund a border wall by taking billions of dollars of funding from the Pentagon projects — including more than $10 million for Kingsley Field in Klamath Falls.

Merkley is disgusted by the Trump Administration’s complete disregard not only for military resources, but also for Klamath’s local economy.

In a press release, Merkley’s office said, the Trump Administration is snatching over $10 million from the National Guard base — which would go for training facilities and infrastructure updates in 2020 — to build a wall on the southern border, which national security experts have already told Merkley is a completely ineffective defense to modern threats.

As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Merkley is demanding the Administration reverse this affront to our military and our communities, and restore funding as Congress appropriated it, the release said.

During his campaign, Trump said that he would force Mexico to build a wall on the United States’ southern border. Since Congress has declined to fund the multi-billion dollar wall, Trump announced he would divert $3.6 billion from the Pentagon’s budget for his project.

At Kingsley Field, $8 million would have funded a new rifle range, and $2.5 million would have funded fuel facility upgrades in 2020 — projects that would have positive impacts throughout Klamath’s economy, the release said.

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