White House Asks US Army Corps Of Engineers About Diverting Hurricane Relief Funding For Border Wall

The Wall Street Journal reports:

The White House has asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to look into projects approved in a bill providing disaster relief for Puerto Rico, Texas, California and Florida to see where funding could be diverted to build a wall along the border with Mexico, according to a congressional aide familiar the discussions.

Almost three weeks into a partial government shutdown, President Trump has signaled he may seek a way out of the impasse over funding a wall by declaring a national emergency at the border with Mexico. Federal law allows the president to halt military construction projects and divert those funds for an emergency.

“This money is supposed to be used on projects to defend Americans from natural disasters and rebuild communities impacted by them,” Rep. Anthony Brown (D., Md.) tweeted on Thursday. “We’ll have fewer resources to protect places like Puerto Rico and Houston, TX from being destroyed.”