Trump has up to $21 billion to use for emergency wall building

President Trump has a pool of roughly $21 billion in military construction funds he can use to build the border wall by emergency declaration, congressional aides said Thursday — though much of that is already destined for other projects that would have to be put on hold. The White House said Thursday that the president will follow through on his threat to declare an emergency and use the Pentagon to build fencing, going around a Congress that just denied him most of the money he had sought. “President Trump will sign the government funding bill, and as he has stated before, he will also take other executive action — including a national emergency — to ensure we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border,” said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Details on the plans were scarce, though. It wasn’t clear how much money he would need, where he would build the wall, whether he will use new designs, or whether he’ll be able to overcome private property and environmental hurdles...MORE