Press Releases

Washington, DC – Today, Massachusetts House Armed Services Committee Members Representatives Lori Trahan (MA-03),  Seth Moulton (MA-06), and Bill Keating (MA-09) condemned President Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency so that he can circumvent Congress and use military construction funds to build his border wall. The decision to use military construction funds directly jeopardizes $90 million designated for use at the Hanscom Air Force Base to construct a Compound Semiconductor Laboratory-Microelectronics Integration Facility, and $42,600,000 at the Westover Air Reserve Base.

“The President declared an emergency over a crisis that doesn’t exist – even going so far to say during his press conference that he ‘didn’t need to do this.’ Now that he has, $90 million worth of military construction projects at the Hansom Air Force Base alone are at risk of being diverted to construct the President’s ineffective, wasteful wall that does nothing to secure our border. This is an outrage,” Rep. Lori Trahan (MA-03) said. “No president, Donald Trump included, has the right to undermine the authority of Congress by declaring a fake national emergency just because they didn’t get their way. I will be joining my colleagues in Congress to do our constitutional duty to protect our system of checks and balances and take strong action against the President’s emergency declaration which has now become a clear threat to our actual security and military readiness.”   

“Whether President Trump recognizes it or not, we are competing with Russia and China to develop the next generation of advanced technologies that will allow us to lead the world in the 21st Century,” Rep. Seth Moulton (MA-06) said. “The proposed lab at Hanscom Air Force Base is exactly the type of investment the government should be making to keep our nation safe. The president’s decision to raid these funds from Hanscom--to pay for a 5th Century wall to address a 21st Century immigration problem--isn’t just a waste of money, it is a conscious decision to play politics with our national defense and economic competitiveness.”

“This Administration’s emergency declaration is at best a reckless politicization of our military and at worst will threaten critical military construction projects,” Rep. Bill Keating (MA-09) said. “Last year, senior Department of Defense leaders testified before Congress about a backlog of $116 billion of unfunded facility requirements and that 32% of their facilities were in poor or failing condition. Just this week, there have been several articles highlighting the poor living conditions that military members and their families are facing on military bases throughout the country. Using military construction funds endangers military readiness and decreases the well-being of our servicemen and women. Additionally, Massachusetts has a number of critical infrastructure projects carried out by the US Army Corps of Engineers that could be threatened by this declaration, including maritime and public safety projects.”

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