There's some question about how much unobligated money is in the MILCON fund. The Defense Department reported $13.3 billion in available construction and family housing funds at the end of fiscal year 2018, according to the CRS report. But overall balances can be deceptive, according to Mackenzie Eaglen, a military budget specialist at the American Enterprise Institute.
MILCON funds are authorized over five years, and some of the $13.3 billion may date back to fiscal year 2015, Eaglen said. Any funds that old by law are supposed to be returned to the Treasury Department. “There’s no way of knowing in advance what money will go back to Treasury,” she said.
The use of the emergency statute also could lead to messy battles over private property, since it authorizes construction only on land owned by the military. Only one-third of the land along the southern border is owned by the federal government or by Native America tribes, according a 2017 report by the left-leaning think tank Third Way.
Trump suggested at a January press conference that the adminstration could use “the military version of eminent domain,” but what he meant be that remains unclear.
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Could Lead To Messy Battles
There's some question about how much unobligated money is in the MILCON fund. The Defense Department reported $13.3 billion in available construction and family housing funds at the end of fiscal year 2018, according to the CRS report. But overall balances can be deceptive, according to Mackenzie Eaglen, a military budget specialist at the American Enterprise Institute.
MILCON funds are authorized over five years, and some of the $13.3 billion may date back to fiscal year 2015, Eaglen said. Any funds that old by law are supposed to be returned to the Treasury Department. “There’s no way of knowing in advance what money will go back to Treasury,” she said.
The use of the emergency statute also could lead to messy battles over private property, since it authorizes construction only on land owned by the military. Only one-third of the land along the southern border is owned by the federal government or by Native America tribes, according a 2017 report by the left-leaning think tank Third Way.
Trump suggested at a January press conference that the adminstration could use “the military version of eminent domain,” but what he meant be that remains unclear.
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There's some question about how
much unobligated money is in the
MILCON fund. The Defense Department reported $13.3 billion in available construction and family housing funds at the end of fiscal year 2018, according to the CRS report. But overall balances can be deceptive, according to Mackenzie Eaglen, a military budget specialist at the American Enterprise Institute.
MILCON funds are authorized
over five years, and some of the $13.3 billion may date back to fiscal year 2015, Eaglen said. Any funds that old by law are supposed to be returned to the Treasury Department. “There’s no way of knowing in advance what money will go back to Treasury,” she said.
The use of the emergency statute
also could lead to messy battles over private property, since it authorizes construction only on land owned by the military. Only one-third of the land along the southern border is owned by the federal government or by Native America tribes, according a 2017 report by the left-leaning think tank Third Way.
Trump suggested at a January
press conference that the adminstration could use “the military version of eminent domain,” but what he meant be that remains unclear.