Warren Introduces Legislation to Use Border Wall Funding for Coronavirus Response

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has introduced legislation to use border wall funding for coronavirus response.

On Thursday, she took to Twitter with a statement about the coronavirus response efforts citing the severity of the potential pandemic.

She tweeted, “Coronavirus poses a serious health, diplomatic, economic threat, we must be prepared to confront it head-on. So I’m introducing a bill to transfer all funding for racist border wall to to combat coronavirus.”

According to Warren’s bill, it would immediately allow for the transfer of funds allocated for President Donald Trump‘s border wall to be used to combat the coronavirus.

The proposed bill reads:

“Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any unobligated Federal funds appropriated or otherwise made available to plan, develop or construct a physical barrier along the international border between the United States and Mexico shall be immediately transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services and the United States Agency for International Development for the express purpose of combating coronavirus disease (COVID-19).”

In response to the crisis, the White House has requested $2.5 billion in funding to combat the coronavirus. However, Democratic lawmakers argue that the proposed amount isn’t enough.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has countered that amount by requesting $8.5 billion in emergency funding.

On Thursday, Schumer released a joint statement with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

“Any emergency funding supplemental the Congress approves must be entirely new funding – not stolen from other accounts,” Pelosi tweeted.

As previously reported on IJR, earlier this month, the U.S. Defense of Department requested to redirect $3.8 billion more from military defense to cover the cost of a wall bordering Mexico.

As of about mid-January, the border wall reportedly topped $11 billion — which equates to $20 million per mile — already.

The White House has yet to respond to Warren’s proposed bill.