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1 1 (June 17, 2019)

handle is hein.crs/govbafu0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional ______ *.Research Service Federal Court Temporarily Blocks a Portion of the Administration's Border Wall Funding June 17, 2019 In recent months, the Trump Administration has taken steps to secure additional funds to pay for the construction of barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border, and various entities have brought suits challenging the lawfulness of those actions. On May 24, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a preliminary injunction in one lawsuit, Sierra Club v. Trump, barring the Administration from using funds reprogrammed under Section 8005 of the 2019 Department of Defense Appropriations Act to pay for specified barrier construction proj ects in New Mexico and Arizona while the lawsuit is pending. But the court declined to issue a preliminary injunction with respect to any construction project not involved in that lawsuit (even if Section 8005 is used to fund the project) or to opine on the lawfulness of the Trump Administration's other proposed funding sources. This Sidebar discusses the district court's determination that Section 8005 does not authorize the transfer of funds for border wall construction. Next, it addresses how the court dealt with the Administration's use of other funding sources. Finally, the Sidebar identifies potential considerations for Congress. Background The Trump Administration has long declared the deployment of additional fencing, walls, and other barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border to be a priority and has sought to secure funding from Congress for this purpose. To that end, earlier this year the Administration requested that Congress appropriate $5.7 billion for additional border barrier construction, but Congress did not grant this request. Following an extended lapse in appropriations due to disagreement on this issue, President Trump signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2019, which appropriated $1.375 billion to DHS for the construction of primary pedestrian fencing along a portion of the U.S. southern border. But the Trump Administration said it would deploy additional fencing by tapping other appropriated amounts to fund complementary construction activities by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the lead agency responsible for deterring illegal border crossings, and the Department of Defense (DOD). On February 15, 2019, President Trump announced that his Administration would reprogram money from three sources. First, the President proposed to withdraw $601 million in unobligated funds from the Treasury Forfeiture Fund available for obligation or expenditure in connection with the law enforcement activities of any Federal agency to be used by DHS for border wall construction. Second, the President Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov LSB10310 CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

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