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Democrats Protest $200M in Additional Border Wall Transfers

Associated Press

   President Donald Trump has quietly transferred more than $200 million
   from Pentagon counterdrug efforts toward building his long-promised
   wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, drawing protests from Democrats who
   say he is again abusing his powers.

   The move would shift $129 million to wall construction from anti-drug
   efforts in Afghanistan -- the source of perhaps 90 percent of the
   world's heroin -- along with $90 million freed up by passage of a
   stopgap funding bill, top Democrats said in a letter to Secretary of
   Defense Mark Esper.

   The Defense Department "was faced with a simple choice: either
   additional funds be used for their intended purpose, to accelerate our
   military's efforts to combat heroin production in Afghanistan; or
   divert these funds to pay for cost increases of a border wall project
   that does not have the support of the American people," the Democrats
   wrote.

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