Spineless GOP Incumbents Again Vote to Allow Raid on Funds for Military Projects, Another Failure to Stand Up for their States

Local coverage, editorials call out Republicans for “weakest moments,” putting politics ahead of projects important to their states’ military communities

Senate Republicans again voted to allow the president to raid funds for military construction projects, another glaring failure to stand up for their states. Senators Cory Gardner, Martha McSally, Thom Tillis, Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell, and Dan Sullivan once again put their own self-serving politics ahead of critical safety and preparedness projects in their home states, as well as “more than $200 million” in Pentagon funds designated for anti-drug operations around the world.

“Vulnerable Republican Senators voted yet again to allow the administration to continue raiding millions of dollars from critical military construction projects in their states, forcing servicemembers and military families to pay the price for their spinelessness,” said DSCC spokesperson Stewart Boss. “Craven incumbents are more concerned with proving their loyalty than serving their constituents, and we’re already seeing the consequences of this staggering failure of leadership as this administration threatens to go after even more money intended to keep Americans safe.”

The DSCC continues to hold Senate Republicans accountable for refusing to oppose this reckless raid, running digital ads spotlighting the cost of spineless GOP senators’ failure to defend funding for their home states’ military communities.

Here’s a refresher on Republicans Senators’ failure to defend their states from the administration’s military cash grab:

• AZ – Arizona Family: 

• AZ – Arizona Public Media: McSally defends Huachuca money going to border wall

• AK – Alaska Public Media: “Sen. Dan Sullivan voted with the majority of Republicans against the resolution. Alaska has four projects worth $102 million that would be delayed in favor of the wall… Sullivan is normally a big proponent of increasing military assets in Alaska, but he said earlier this month that shifting the money to the southern border is in the national interest.”

• AK – Anchorage Daily News: “President Donald Trump’s pursuit of a border wall with Mexico will take as much as $102 million from Alaska construction projects, according to a list published Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Defense… The affected projects in Alaska include $75.4 million in work on power plant boilers at Eielson Air Force Base, $19 million for a firing range at the same base, and $8 million for work on the antiballistic missile launching facility at Fort Greely in Delta Junction.”

• CO – Denver Channel: Senate rebukes Trump on using military construction funds for border wall; Gardner sides with Trump — “$8M Space Control Facility at Peterson AFB will lose funds”

• CO – 9News:

• CO – Denver Post Editorial: Now we know Gardner failed to protect Colorado from cuts in addition to failing the U.S. Constitution

• KY – Louisville Courier-Journal: Trump’s national emergency may halt a Kentucky military middle school

• NC – Raleigh News & Observer: Tillis votes again with Trump on border emergency declaration, despite NC military cuts

• NC – Charlotte Observer Editorial: “Trump’s wall already was the source of one of the senator’s weakest moments. As N.C. voters surely remember, Tillis announced in February that he would vote against the president’s effort to circumvent Congress and pay for the wall by declaring a national emergency at the southern border. Three weeks later, he backed down and gave his blessing and vote to the president’s overreach. Now that decision will doubly haunt him.”

• NC – Greensboro News & Record Editorial: “The loss of funds could also hurt Tillis, who is up for re-election next year, and who in March voted to support the dubious emergency declaration that Trump is using to justify his raid on military construction funds. North Carolina won’t be the only state suffering because of Trump’s tantrum, but it’s one of the hardest hit.”

• NC – Fayetteville Observer Editorial: “The Trump Administration is grabbing money from the U.S. military budget, including funds designated for Fort Bragg, to help pay for the wall along the Southern border with Mexico. Tillis meekly acquiesced in the money grab… Tillis will at some point have to decide for himself whether Trump’s support was worth what he paid.”

• SC – The State: Trump taking $11 million from SC military project to fund border wall

• New York Times: “Senators Martha McSally of Arizona, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Cory Gardner of Colorado were among the Republicans who voted in lock step with the president, though projects in their states are slated for funding delays.”

• The Hill: “Trump’s decision to leapfrog Congress and declare a national emergency… has become a perennial headache for the GOP… Under a list circulated by the Pentagon, officials are shifting money away from military construction projects in 14 states that have Republican senators to go instead toward the border wall. Some of those states will be at the heart of the 2020 battle for control of the Senate, including Arizona, Colorado and North Carolina, where GOP Sens. Martha McSally (Ariz.), Cory Gardner (Colo.) and Thom Tillis (N.C.) are on the ballot… When a reporter noted [Texas] was losing money according to the Pentagon list, [Sen. John Cornyn] added: ‘that’s way too parochial.’”

• HuffPost: “Republicans who again stood by Trump on the emergency declaration despite representing states that are losing money for military projects to wall construction included Cory Gardner of Colorado, Martha McSally of Arizona, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas.”

• CNBC: “[The Trump administration] will still pull significant sums from states represented by GOP senators vulnerable in the 2020 elections. They include Sens. Cory Gardner of Colorado, Martha McSally of Arizona and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. All three opposed the resolution to end the emergency declaration during Wednesday’s vote and in March. The administration will pull $30 million from Fort Huachuca in Arizona. It will also draw $8 million from Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado and $80 million from three sites in North Carolina”

• Wall Street Journal: “Democrats see a potential political weapon in the national emergency funding vote, hoping to attack vulnerable Senate Republicans up for re-election who have had funding for military projects in their state diverted under the president’s initiative… Sen. Thom Tillis (R., N.C.) wrote an opinion article in the Washington Post announcing he would support the resolution, citing constitutional concerns about how spending decisions are made. But after criticism from conservatives in North Carolina, Mr. Tillis reversed his position and voted against the resolution. A self-funded primary challenger to Mr. Tillis has since run advertisements criticizing Mr. Tillis’s initial opposition to the national emergency.”

• POLITICO: “Among the states hit by the diversion of military funds are Colorado, Arizona, North Carolina, Texas and South Carolina – all of which have Republican senators up for re-election in 2020… The actual raiding of military funds did not affect Republican votes.”

• Vox: “Senators in swing states like Colorado, Arizona, and North Carolina are the ones in the most precarious position with a vote like this. If they voted in favor of blocking the emergency, they risked Trump’s wrath and the threat of a potential primary challenger — something Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) already experienced when he initially opposed the president’s national emergency earlier this year. If they voted in favor of keeping the declaration, they’re condoning the use of state funds for the border wall.”

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