Stan Collender

Opinion contributor

There will seldom, if ever, be as good an example of federal “waste, fraud and abuse” as President Donald Trump’s decision this week to send up to 15,000 troops to the United States-Mexican border.

Even if the impact on the deficit and national debt was not going to be significant (and it will be), this would still qualify as one of the most egregious examples in American history of a federal budget boondoggle.

Although the Trump administration so far has not provided any details on the expense of what it is calling “Operation Faithful Patriot,” a much smaller previous effort almost a decade ago cost taxpayers $500 million. That could put the Trump plan at the same level of fiscal infamy as the notorious “bridge to nowhere,” nowhere being an Alaska island with a population of 50. Fifteen years after Congress finally killed it because it was so embarrassing, it is still a punchline for pundits and comedians and the classic definition of waste, fraud and abuse in Washington.

Troop deployment to border is boondoggle

But Trump’s decision to send troops to the border is destined to overtake that boondoggle bridge as the waste, fraud and abuse joke of all time, because it qualifies in all three categories.

Waste. Deploying the troops now serves no practical purpose whatsoever. Even if the people walking towards the United States were a real threat, and that hasn’t been established in any way, they are still (1) hundreds of miles away, (2) on foot, (3) moving very slowly, (4) multiple weeks from arriving and (5) planning to ask legally and peacefully for asylum rather than invading.

In addition, there are severe legal restrictions on what the military may dowhile it is at the border that makes it highly unlikely the troops will perform any meaningful tasks.

Fraud. Trump allegedly sent the troops because the people walking towards the U.S. posed a danger to the country that required a military response, but the White House has offered no proof at all about this. To the contrary, the only thing we’ve heard is Trump’s unconfirmed statements about a threat, which have been repeatedly contradicted by independent reports.

Abuse. As commander-in-chief, Trump, like every president, has the authority to direct the military. But it’s anything but clear that his authority extends to using the troops for what appear to be not just purely partisan but obviously direct election purposes.

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Trump is not the first president to send the military to help secure the U.S.-Mexico border. For example,in 2010, Barack Obama sent 1,200 National Guard troops to assist while more traditional border control agents were recruited and trained.

But there are substantial differences between the two situations.

First, Obama’s action came more than five months before the 2010 midterm election and so was decidedly less political. Trump’s order came less than two weeks before Election Day, with early voting under way. —

Second, Obama’s order was aimed at criminals crossing the border illegally while, by his own admission, Trump wants to stop migrants from legally seeking asylum.

Third, Obama made it clear that the military was there only to support other law enforcement with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. By contrast, Trump’s Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, has said that there are no plans “right now” for the troops to shoot at those walking toward the U.S.

Pentagon slush fund for Trump political projects

The Trump plan to send up to 15,000 troops to the border also qualifies as waste, fraud and abuse because the White House apparently does not plan to ask Congress for the funds for this effort. Instead, it is requiring the Defense Department to use appropriations that were enacted for a completely different purpose. That means DOD will have to shortchange other activities the Pentagon previously told Congress were essential.

This by itself qualifies as waste, fraud and abuse. It clearly shows the Trump administration doesn’t care about how much time it and Congress spend agreeing on a budget every year. It reveals Trump’s supposedly unbridled support for the military as a fraud, given that he’s so willing to use its budget as a slush fund for his political projects. And it’s a clear abuse of the constitutionally mandated appropriations process.

Somewhere the bridge to nowhere supporters must be smiling. Trump’s troop deployment plan has now replaced their pet project as the epitome of what’s bad about Washington.

Stan Collender teaches federal budgeting at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University and is the founder of thebudgetguy.blog. Follow him on Twitter: @thebudgetguy