Courtney Blasts Trump Plan To Divert Plane Funds For Border Wall

WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney (CT-02), the chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, is bashing plans by the Trump Administration to "reprogram" $3.8 billion in Department of Defense funding from various "procurement priorities" to instead fund construction of the border wall through the "counter-narcotics account."

In a statement released Thursday, Courtney said the plans include dumping three aircraft that are the type used at the Connecticut Air National Guard base adjacent to Bradley International Airport.

"Today, the Trump Administration conducted a hit-and-run strike on the 2020 defense budget, which the President just signed into law on Dec. 20, and boasted about in his State of the Union address last week,” Courtney said. "That budget represented a year of diligent, bipartisan work that took the Pentagon's initial request, and with the able help of professional staff, produced a final product that passed with overwhelming bipartisan support. Today's hijacking of Defense Department funds to a different department of the federal government occurred without the slightest advice and consent of Congressional leaders, and sadly is another example of the Administration’s braze disregard for Article One of the Constitution."

He continued, "Many of these decisions fall squarely in the jurisdiction of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, a subcommittee that is central to our nation’s national defense strategy. Last year, I traveled to the North Atlantic to see first-hand the challenges posed by a resurgent Russia in that region, and saw the high-tempo work of the P-8 fleet at Iceland’s Keflavik Airfield. Notably, not a single official or military leader in any service I have met with suggested that we needed fewer of any of these hard-working and highly capable aircraft. In fact, they said just the opposite. This makes the cuts across our entire fleet of aircraft particularly puzzling."

The C-130 ( DoD photo by Staff Sgt. Matthew Hannen, U.S. Air Force. [Released])

Courtney added, "The diversion of funds also hit the National Guard and Reserves Equipment Account, which is an essential program that every state depends on to ensure the Reserve Force's readiness. This decision will make the American homeland less safe, including, ironically, the work guard units are doing at the Southern Border."

Courtney said, of the $3.9 billion included in the reprogramming today, approximately $1.6 billion, or 41 percent, is under the jurisdiction of the House Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee.

That includes:

• $155 million from V-22 (2x aircraft)
• $180 million from P-8 (1x aircraft)
• $911 million from shipbuilding, including $650 million provided for LHA-9 and an additional Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF)
• $365 million from C-130J (4x aircraft)

A fleet of C-130s is stationed at the Connecticut Air National Guard base. Courtney lives in Vernon, just a few miles from the base.