Pentagon chief blasted for plan to redirect $1 billion to build 57 miles of border wall

A Pentagon decision to redirect up to $1 billion to build 57 miles of fencing along the Mexican border was slapped down Tuesday by a House panel that rejected the “reprogramming action.”

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan authorized the Army Corps of Engineers on Monday to plan and build the 18-foot-high fencing and to construct and upgrade roads and install lighting near the border in Yuma, Arizona, and El Paso, Texas.

Shanahan said the $1 billion plan was in support of the national emergency declaration President Donald Trump issued last month after Congress refused to appropriate the $5.7 billion he wanted for construction of a border wall.

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