Top Senate Democrats are demanding a list of military projects that would lose funding under President Trump Donald John TrumpOmar fires back at Trump over rally remarks: 'This is my country' Pelosi: Trump hurrying to fill SCOTUS seat so he can repeal ObamaCare Trump mocks Biden appearance, mask use ahead of first debate MORE's plan to divert resources to pay for a long-promised border wall.

"We have strong concerns about hitting the pause button on such readiness initiatives that Congress already approved when it exercised its constitutional appropriations prerogative,” the lawmakers, led by Sens. Patrick Leahy Patrick Joseph LeahyBattle over timing complicates Democratic shutdown strategy Hillicon Valley: Russia 'amplifying' concerns around mail-in voting to undermine election | Facebook and Twitter take steps to limit Trump remarks on voting | Facebook to block political ads ahead of election Top Democrats press Trump to sanction Russian individuals over 2020 election interference efforts MORE (D-Vt.), Dick Durbin Richard (Dick) Joseph DurbinTumultuous court battle upends fight for Senate McConnell focuses on confirming judicial nominees with COVID-19 talks stalled Senate Republicans signal openness to working with Biden MORE (D-Ill.) and Brian Schatz Brian Emanuel SchatzCDC causes new storm by pulling coronavirus guidance Overnight Health Care: CDC pulls revised guidance on coronavirus | Government watchdog finds supply shortages are harming US response | As virus pummels US, Europe sees its own spike Video of Lindsey Graham arguing against nominating a Supreme Court justice in an election year goes viral MORE (D-Hawaii), wrote in a letter to acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan Patrick Michael ShanahanHouse Armed Services chairman expresses confidence in Esper amid aircraft carrier coronavirus crisis Boeing pleads for bailout under weight of coronavirus, 737 fallout Esper's chief of staff to depart at end of January MORE.

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“We request that you provide to us the list of the projects deemed less important than building a wall along the southern border, along with the military criteria used to justify those decisions.”

The letter was signed by every Democratic member of the military construction and the Defense Appropriations subcommittees.

Trump declared the national emergency last month to allocate roughly $8 billion for barriers along the southern border. Of those funds, more than $6 billion would come from the Department of Defense. He moved to divert the funds after a congressional spending bill fell short of his demands for his signature campaign promise.

“By using such authority, [the Department of Defense] will have to cancel or delay approximately twenty percent of the military construction projects previously reported to Congress as top priorities for the military. We request that you provide to us the list of the projects deemed less important than building a wall along the southern border, along with the military criteria used to justify those decisions,” the appropriators wrote.

“We believe that cancelling or delaying military construction and family housing projects would have damaging short- and long-term impacts. The decision to do so imposes known and unknown risks on the military services’ ability to train the force, maintain readiness, and support military missions.”

Democrats were swift to condemn Trump’s emergency declaration, echoing criticism that the diverted funds would harm military readiness and instead pay for what they slammed as a fabricated crisis.