White House diverted $1.6b war funds to border security

Wednesday, June 7, 2006

United Press International (UPI) reports that the Senate took US$1.9b out of the 2006 emergency war supplemental funding to fund border security last month. The White House reportedly called for the transfer that was put into an amendment sponsored by Senators Bill Frist and Judd Gregg. Out of the $1.9b, $1.6b was meant to replace equipment that has been destroyed or worn out after four years of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq.

An unnamed Pentagon budget official told UPI “You can’t tell me that illegal aliens coming across the border pose the same kind of threat to national security as insurgents in Anbar do against Marines.”