Duckworth Statement on Trump Proposal to Take Money from Illinois Military Facilities for Border Wall

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] — U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) released the following statement in response to the Trump Administration’s announcement that they could use $55 million that Congress had allocated for Illinois military facilities in order to fund the border wall that Donald Trump promised Mexico would pay for. The projects in Illinois that could lose funding include a communications facility at Scott Air Force Base, an automated record fire range for the Illinois Army National Guard in Marseilles and a new crash and rescue facility in Peoria. Duckworth voted last week to prevent Trump from raiding military construction funds to build an ineffective border wall that he promised Mexico would pay for.

“This is a reckless and irresponsible proposal that will hurt military readiness and undermine our ability to respond to real national security threats. To be clear, Donald Trump is proposing stealing funding that Congress appropriated for critical national defense projects in Illinois and across the country in order to fund a vanity project that he promised Mexico would pay for. This is a monumental waste of taxpayer dollars that is downright harmful to our nation.”

Duckworth is a combat Veteran who served in the Reserve Forces for 23 years. During that time, she flew helicopters out of the Peoria airport that could lose funding under Trump’s proposal.

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