Acting Pentagon chief not decided yet on funding border wallU.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan speaks at the annual Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany February 15, 2019. A U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that Shanahan was likely to approve the $3.6 billion being redirected from the military construction budget. By declaring a national emergency, Trump can use certain Department of Defense funding to build the wall. Shanahan said he did not expect to take money away from projects like military housing. The Republican president’s move, circumventing Congress, seeks to make good on a 2016 presidential campaign pledge to build a border wall that Trump insists is necessary to curtail illegal immigration.

Source: Standard Digital February 17, 2019 00:56 UTC