Arizona Democrat wants information on how wall emergency is hitting military

Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) is calling for answers on whether shifts in funding under President Trump’s national emergency declaration and deployments to the southern border will compromise military readiness.

In a letter sent to Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson on Friday, the Arizona Democrat cited Marine Corps Gen. Robert Neller’s recent warning that the unplanned expenditures related to the emergency declaration in conjunction with other costs, including hurricane recovery expenditures, have forced them to postpone base repairs and cancel or roll back military training.

{mosads}“It has come to my attention that your Marine counterpart, General Robert B. Neller, has communicated to the Acting Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Navy that the Marines’ readiness and ability to meet core missions is being negatively and decisively affected by unfunded mandates, including southwest border operations,” Gallego wrote.

“General Neller notes that Marines are working in structures compromised by natural disasters. He notes that numerous exercises and engagements around the world – critical for Marines to train to advance to contact, engage the enemy, and destroy him in the field – are being cancelled or reduced. He notes that the Marines will be forced ‘to stop hurricane work in May which is unacceptable.’ All of these things are, indeed, unacceptable,” Gallego continued.

Gallego, a former Marine, called for a report containing information on how the Navy is managing unplanned factors in the fiscal 2019 budget. He asked for a list of canceled, reduced or delayed training exercises and copies of “memoranda from Navy leadership to civilian Departmental leadership regarding readiness issues over the course of the past two calendar years.”

The Democratic congressman has been a vocal critic of the national emergency declaration, arguing the administration has fabricated a crisis at the border.

“Our military must be ready to face very real threats that exist worldwide, and Trump’s irresponsible posturing is putting that preparedness at great risk,” he said in a statement. “Congress needs to know the extent of the damage that Trump is causing to our military readiness. Our President is putting our national security on the line, and he must be stopped.”