Trump Taking Half a Billion Dollars From Children of Military Families to Pay for His Wall
September 6th 2019
Donald Trump (Gage Skimore)
By Dan Desai Martin
During the 2016 campaign, Trump promised Mexico would pay for a border wall. But on Wednesday, the Pentagon announced that more than half a billion dollars will be taken from schools for military families to build the wall.
The Pentagon is taking $13 million meant for a child development center at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, and using it to build a wall. Ft. Campbell Middle School in Indiana was scheduled to receive more than $62 million for construction projects, but that money will be taken by the Pentagon.
In Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory that has been ravaged by hurricanes in recent years, the Ramey Unit School will have to do without $61 million for planned activities.
And it is not just military families in the U.S. who will sacrifice even more for Trump’s racist whim — military families overseas will also feel a pinch. In Japan, Kinnick High School and Bechtel Elementary School will lose out on a combined $134.8 million. Military families in Germany and the U.K. will also lose out on hundreds of millions of dollars for schools there.
“Canceling military construction projects to pay for a wasteful border wall is yet another example of [Trump] putting his own vanity projects before the American people,” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), wrote on Twitter following the news. “His disregard for the brave men & women who serve our country is un-American & should infuriate us all.”
In total, the Pentagon will take $3.6 billion from 127 military projects around the globe in order to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. And $557 million comes from schools and child care facilities for military families.
Thanks to Trump, military families will be forced to sacrifice better schools for their children. Meanwhile, Mexico has not paid a dime toward the wall, despite Trump’s campaign promises.
Full list of school and educational facilities losing funding to pay for the border wall:
Child Development Center at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland: $13 million
Ft. Campbell Middle School in Indiana: $62.6 million
Ramey Unit School in Puerto Rico: $61 million
Butner Elementary School in North Carolina: $32.9 million (the Pentagon notes this project was “previously canceled.”)
Croughton Elementary/Middle/High School Replacement in the United Kingdom: $71.4 million
Kinnick High School in Japan: $40 million
Bechtel Elementary School in Japan: $94.8 million
Clay Kaserne Elementary School in Germany: $56 million
Robinson Barracks Elementary School in Germany: $46.6 million
Spangdahlem Elementary School in Germany: $79.1 million
A full list of projects the Pentagon is raiding to pay for the wall can be found here.
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