Defense Secretary Esper taps funds from counter-Russia programs for border wall
WASHINGTON — U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper is directing Pentagon budget planners to defer $545 million worth of construction projects — many in Europe meant to counter Russian aggression — to pay for President Donald Trump’s border wall with Mexico.
In a memo sent Monday to the Pentagon’s comptroller and other officials, Esper lists several projects in Norway, Germany, Spain and elsewhere totaling more than $200 million from which he says funds can be redirected.
Those projects are all part of the European Deterrence Initiative designed to bolster allies and undermine Russia’s growing influence on the continent. The projects include infrastructure for military aircraft, fuel, munitions and cargo.
Esper has the authority to redirect funds from both domestic and foreign construction programs because Trump has declared a national emergency in order to spur funding for one of his top campaign priorities — the southwestern border wall.
Similar moves by Esper and his predecessors in the Trump administration have enraged members of Congress from both parties, who are particularly wary of seeing funding cut for construction projects in their districts or states. And Esper’s initiative would appear to conflict with the National Defense Strategy, which prioritizes “great power competition” with Russia and China.
Pentagon officials indicated that the projects are only temporarily losing funding.
“Overseas projects have not been canceled but deferred because the projects will not be awarded until FY 2021 or later,” Pentagon spokesman Chris Sherwood said in an emailed statement.
—Bloomberg News
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House not coming back to Washington next week after all, Hoyer says
WASHINGTON — The House will not come back to Washington next week, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer told reporters Tuesday, reversing an announcement he made on a Democratic Caucus conference call the previous day.
The change of course comes as members expressed concern about returning to Washington while some areas in the region are developing into coronavirus hot spots. Hoyer said the decision to delay the return, which had been briefly scheduled for May 4, came after he talked with the Capitol physician, who said he recommended against taking the risk involved in members returning.
“The house doctor, when I talked to him yesterday, was concerned because the numbers in the District of Columbia are going up,” the Maryland Democrat said. “They’re not flat, and they’re not going down.”
Another reason the House decided to delay its return is because the chamber is not ready to vote on the next coronavirus relief bill, Hoyer said.
“We will not come back next week, but we hope to come back very soon to consider the CARES 2 legislation,” Hoyer said, adding that the House will take “the time to get that in order” before returning.
Hoyer said discussions continue about changing House rules to allow for some remote work. He is part of the bipartisan task force that will be talking again about the issue on Tuesday.
“We are going to be working in the interim in trying to facilitate committees meeting in a real way, but virtually,” he said.
—CQ-Roll Call
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$50,000 reward offered for information in fatal shooting of Indianapolis mail carrier
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service on Tuesday offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person or people who shot and killed a mail carrier delivering letters in Indiana.
Police on Monday found 45-year-old Angela Summers suffering from at least one gunshot wound in an Indianapolis neighborhood around 4 p.m. She was “awake and talking” at the time, the Indianapolis Police Department told WXIN-TV.
From there, Summers was transported to a local hospital, where she later died from her injuries. The Marion County coroner’s office has ruled her death a homicide.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is working with local authorities to investigate the crime and confirmed that Summers was on her mail route when she was shot and killed.
“The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is actively investigating the incident and working closely with our law enforcement partners, but we are unable to comment further at this time,” Postal Inspector Team Leader Andrew Brandsasse said in an email to Indy Star.
Authorities have not released a description for a possible suspect nor have they suggested which charges the person will face.
Killing a federal employee is a federal offense and could carry a life sentence.
Anyone with information in the case is asked to call police or Crime Stoppers at (317) 262-TIPS.
—New York Daily News
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Blast in Syrian town held by Turkish-backed rebels kills 46
BEIRUT — At least 46 people were killed in a blast on Tuesday in a northern Syrian town controlled by Turkish-backed rebels, a war monitor said.
A booby-trapped fuel tanker exploded on the road to Rajo in the town of Afrin, which is controlled by Turkish troops and their allied rebel groups, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The blast also wounded at least 50 people, the watchdog said, adding that the death toll is likely to increase as most of the wounded were in critical condition.
The watchdog said it observed charred bodies of children and women and nine others for fighters allied with Turkey.
But the Turkish Defense Ministry said that 40 people were killed, including 11 children, and 47 were wounded.
The mainly Kurdish enclave of Afrin was captured by the Turkish military and allied Syrian rebel fighters during an offensive in 2018.
Similar car bombings have taken place over the past few months in Afrin. Rebels have accused the Kurdish-led People’s Protection Units (YPG) of being behind them.
Turkey launched an incursion into northeastern Syria on Oct. 9, 2019, to push back Syrian Kurdish militias, which lost more than 10,000 people fighting alongside the US against Islamic State.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which were in control of swathes of northeastern Syria, is mainly led by the YPG, which Ankara considers to be linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a designated terrorist group fighting an insurgency on Turkish soil.
—dpa
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