Last Monday, the U.S Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan shared during a press conference that the U.S-Mexico border wall project was validated. This is from far the most polemical bill that the Trump administration has ever voted since the start of the term.
While Democrats strongly disagreed with this project, especially in Congress, the Department of Defense confirmed in a public letter that it will allocate up to $1 billion in funding.
The wall will be built from East to West between El Paso in Texas, and Yuma in Arizona. Experts strongly criticize the efficiency of this project, as the U.S Army faces other priorities – such as the need to renew a water facility in North Carolina and update some flight simulators.
Here is what to expect about the wall – including a possible avocado shortage in the United States in the upcoming months.
A controversial bill
After the longest shutdown in American history, the Trump presidency has managed to pass the bill to partially build a wall on the southern border of the country, between the United States and Mexico.
Republican Adam Smith shared to media that: “the committee does not approve the proposed use of Department of Defense funds to construct additional physical barriers and roads or install lighting in the vicinity of the United States border,” he said in a public announcement.
As a result, top democrats published a press release saying that they “strongly object to both the substance of the funding transfer, and to the Department implementing the transfer without seeking the approval of the congressional defense committees and in violation of provisions in the defense appropriation itself”.
Military addressed an emergency list
For experts and staff in the military, this project was upsetting while many urgent requests has not been fulfilled.
As a result, several military shared to the press a lit of emergency requests and needs that the many soldiers need. It is available online. In the 21-long page document, funds for gear maintenance are heavily highlighted – from aircrafts to military space.
https://twitter.com/Anna_Giaritelli/status/1113234041099124736
Moreover, the company who said it built the wall could have the the whoel structure along the U.S-Mexican border ready by the end of next year, just in time for the 2020 Presidential elections.
The Washington Examiner, a Republican newspaper has also reported that 99 percent of American Republicans are approving Trump’s policy.
“We look forward to hearing how he intends to pilfer the military construction accounts, circumvent the intended nature of the law, while simultaneously abusing the trust of the American people,” commented the Adam Smith, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
And as other priorities seem to be cruelly needed, the wall appears to be a threat for the economy of both countries.
Read our story: “Shutdown: Will Trump Declare A “State of Emergency””?
An American Brexit?
However as it turns out, a Cornell University Professor qualified the wall as a “logistical nightmare” yesterday on USA Today. Not only border workers could be dramatically slowed down on their daily commute to go across the border to head to their working place, but business could slow down, too.
Moreover, some experts compare the wall with an American version of Brexit. It might have dramatical effects on fresh products in the United States. According to USA Today, eggplants, tomatoes, cucumbers and red chillies.
Not only this will affect the economy, but it could also severely impact the ability of the Marines to protect the country.
The butterflies that could stop Trump’s wall https://t.co/SAv3JXRioH
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) April 3, 2019
Also, some non-profit organizations have pointed out how this could be detrimental to some animal species, including the orange butterflies that are eventually back in the region, after a decade of being missing.
Democrats will sue the President
Last but not least, the Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker of the Democrat Party, said that the Democratic Party would sue U.S President Donald Trump for“stealing” of billions of dollars from federal programs and diverting it to building barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border.”
https://twitter.com/KassandraSeven/status/1113888849925738496
Pelosi said that the party would have to “defend our Democracy” as she said the project was not constitutional.
“The President’s action clearly violates the Appropriations Clause by stealing from appropriated funds, an action that was not authorized by constitutional or statutory authority,” Pelosi wrote in a recent statement.
The legal action should take place in the few next days.