Termination of National Emergency Declared By the President on February 2019

Floor Speech

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Mr. BROWN of Maryland. Mr. Speaker, I rise to once again oppose the President's outrageous decision to declare a national emergency.

President Trump repeatedly promised that Mexico would pay for his border wall, but now he is diverting money, $3.6 billion, away from our servicemembers, military families, and their children.

Two projects were canceled in my district at Joint Base Andrews. Joint Base Andrews is home to Air Force One. It is the cornerstone of military security in our Nation's Capital.

President Trump canceled a much-needed new childcare facility for families at Joint Base Andrews. We have been working on this for over a decade.

The current childcare center, which I visited 2 weeks ago, 2 years ago, was constructed during World War II. It is too small to serve the children on base. There is a 200-child waiting list.

It suffers from sewage backup. That is right, classes are canceled when the sewer backs up. The kitchen closes when the sewer backs up, and that happens every other month.

It has got mold and rodent infestation, a leaking roof that collapsed 5 years ago, and a failing heating and air-conditioning system.

Servicemembers will be forced to use more expensive and lower quality off-base programs. The Department of Defense studied it; they estimated it; and it will cost military families $10,000 a year, each, money that is coming out of their pocket. Why? To build a wall.

The families at Andrews have been waiting for years for a modern, safe building, and now we are telling them to wait. We are telling kids to go without so President Trump can build his wall before 2020.

Servicemembers that defend our Nation should never have to worry about the safety and well-being of their children while they are serving our Nation.

This isn't the only project being canceled at Andrews. The President canceled a hazardous material cargo pad necessary to load ordnance and munitions onto planes. The Pentagon said that, without this project, Andrews will have ``enduring systemic weaknesses in its ability to support required military activities.''

Think September 11, 9/11. We relied on fighter jets from Andrews, and now we are risking their mission with this cut.

The President is also canceling dozens of essential projects that would provide relief in Puerto Rico and in Europe against Russian aggression. It hurts morale among the men and women who sacrifice more and more every year.

Voting to end this national emergency is the only way to restore funding that the President has taken from our troops and their families. The administration should not build this ineffective, xenophobic, vanity project on the backs of the military.

When we face critical challenges at home and abroad, this kind of action hurts our ability to respond to real-world emergencies.

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