Trump Administration to pull Kingsley Field construction project funding for border wall [UPDATED]

Today, The Trump Administration announced a decision to divert billions of dollars of funding from military construction projects across the country to be used on the border wall. Two projects at Kingsley Field totaling $10 million are on the chopping block. $2.5 million in fuel facility upgrades and an $8 million rifle range.

Today, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley quickly condemned the Trump administration decision to divert funding from congressionally-approved military construction to fund the border wall.

Wyden and Merkley jointly released the following statement:

“This decision is both an abuse of presidential authority and a dereliction of duty. Trump’s border wall is a cruel vanity project, and nothing more. Americans should not foot the bill, and especially not at the expense of well-vetted projects across the nation that will actually bolster national security. We will fight to restore this funding to Oregon and to continue opposing Trump’s hateful, ineffective border policies.”

According to Sara Hottman, Communications Director for Senator Merkley, “Merkley is disgusted by the Trump Administration’s complete disregard not only for military resources, but also for Klamath’s local economy. The Trump Administration is snatching over $10 million from the National Guard base—which would go for training facilities and infrastructure updates—to build a wall on the southern border, which national security experts have already told Merkley is a completely ineffective defense to modern threats.”

Hottman continues, “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.”

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. 

A request for information and a statement from Kingsley Field, and Representative Greg Walden both remain unanswered at the time of this publication.

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