Mulvaney: Military projects impacted by wall funding haven’t been decided yet

White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Sunday that it “could be a while” before lawmakers have a list of military construction projects impacted by President Trump’s emergency declaration to move funding to a wall along the southern border.

Mulvaney, who also heads the Office of Management and Budget, said he’s not aware of any existing list that describes projects that will have funding reallocated to the border wall.

“I know of no list and if anybody should know it should be me,” he said on “Face the Nation” on CBS. “There’s no list of projects that are absolutely not going to be funded so that the wall can be.”

{mosads}Mulvaney said that no programs that had money appropriated through September of this year will be affected. Instead, the list in question would consist of programs that are set to be funded beyond the end of this fiscal year, which would allow Congress time to backfill the funding.

“I know of the universe of things that might be delayed, or reduced, or cut in a very extreme circumstance that could be used to fund the wall,” he said. “But a list of a decision that’s already been made, saying this money’s going to be cut and spent over there, that’s not been made yet.” 

.@MickMulvaneyOMB claims no programs scheduled to start in 2019 will be impacted by emergency declaration, adding: “there’s no list of projects that are absolutely going to not be funded…” He added that they fully expect the veto override to fail in the House. pic.twitter.com/vu28I8MXYX

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) March 17, 2019

In declaring a national emergency last month, the president said he planned to redirect $3.6 billion in military construction funding toward the border wall project. He also said he would take separate executive action to repurpose about $2.5 billion from the Defense Department’s drug-interdiction program and $600 million from the Treasury Department’s asset-forfeiture fund.

Senators have expressed frustration over the lack of information regarding which specific military construction projects could be affected, with a handful of Senate Democrats writing to acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan last week to demand a full list.

Shanahan sought to reassure senators at a hearing on Thursday that Trump’s use of military construction funding for a wall “will not come at the expense of our people, our readiness, or our modernization.”

Trump on Friday vetoed a resolution terminating the national emergency, setting up Congress for a vote to override it.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) suggested in an interview broadcast Sunday on “Face the Nation” that the White House was attempting to withhold the list of relevant projects until after Congress votes on the veto as a way to keep certain lawmakers from rebuking the White House.

“This is the White House wanting to hold the list back because they worry that if senators and House members saw the potential projects that were going to be ransacked to pay for the president’s wall they would lose votes,” Kaine said.

Sen. @timkaine: White House is withholding information on military projects being cut because they fear losing votes if Congress saw what would “be ransacked to pay for the president’s wall.” pic.twitter.com/IZSblBLCt6

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) March 17, 2019

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has set a vote in the House to override the president’s veto for March 26.

Mulvaney said Sunday that he’s certain Congress lacks the votes necessary to override the veto.