Fellow Illinoisan,

We all remember then-candidate Donald Trump’s idea that we needed a 2,000-mile border wall from sea-to-shining-sea, and his claim that Mexico would pay for it. 

But Mexico - as we all expected -  said no, and now President Trump has decided that our military and their families should pay for it instead. Prior to September, the President had already diverted $2.5 billion of military funds towards paying for his ineffective border wall.  Then, the Department of Defense announced that it would divert an additional $3.6 billion away from military construction projects as a result of the President’s so-called “national emergency” declaration. 

This move not only poses a significant risk to our national security, it also impacts America’s military families.  On September 18, The Washington Post reported that the Pentagon believes there will be “dire outcomes” for military families if Republicans allow the President to divert this money.

And that’s not all.  The President’s order to divert these funds is also unacceptable under our Constitution.  Congress - not the President - has the Constitutional authority to appropriate these funds.  

Thankfully, Congress is pushing back.  Last week, the Senate voted -  for the second time in six months - to reject the President’s “national emergency” declaration and stop him from diverting these funds to pay for his wall.  Republicans and Democrats in the Senate came together to stand in support of the Constitution and military families over the President and his wall.

The Senate must continue to reject the President’s efforts to divert funding meant for our military and their families in order to put it towards his ineffective wall on the southern border.

Sincerely, 

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL)