Army Authorizes Use of $976M of Counter-Narcotics Funds for Border Wall

The Army announced that it would be contributing $976 million of its counter-narcotics funds to help build President Trump's wall along the southern border, Task and Purpose reports. A large part of the counter-narcotics money was reportedly money the Army didn't use for “personnel costs because it failed to meet its recruiting goals.” Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan reportedly authorized $1 billion to help build the wall in late March, but the House Armed Services Committee attempted to block the fund transfer. However, Pentagon spokesman Christopher Sherwood reportedly said the Defense Department only needed to tell Congress about the border wall fund transfer if the amount totaled $1 billion—so it seems the department lowered the fund transfer amount. A Texas company reportedly received a $789 million contract for wall construction in New Mexico and a Montana company got $187 million to build “wall replacement” in Arizona, with both projects being projected to complete by October 2020.