Tribune Chronicle / R. Michael Semple U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, right, speaks with Master Sgt. Brody Grazier, program manager for the Combat Arms Training and Maintenance indoor firing range, while touring the facility at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna Tuesday afternoon.

VIENNA — President Donald Trump’s proposal to siphon money away from military construction projects, including several in Ohio and two locally, to pay for a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico is “stupid” and undermines the work of servicemen and women like the ones at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station, said U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown.

Brown, D-Ohio, said he continues to push against Trump’s idea that could affect an $8.8 million security upgrade at the reserve station and a $7.4 million machine gun range at Camp James A. Garfield Joint Military Training Center near Newton Falls, plus millions in projects elsewhere in the state.

“Congress has said no to the wall, the public doesn’t support the wall and the president is dug in,” Brown said. “He made a campaign promise, but his campaign promise was that Mexico would pay and he seems to have forgotten that. The wall is a bad idea and taking money away from our national defense is a really bad idea with what’s called the gate relocation at YARS. It’s a stupid idea; it’s wrong.”

About $112 million would be sucked from projects in Ohio under the president’s plan.

The other projects are Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, $6.8 million for a fire / crash rescue station and $61 million for the National Air and Space Intelligence Center campus at the base; $13 million for a new fire station at Mansfield Lahm Air National Guard Base; and $15 million for a new alert hangar at the Toledo Express Airport.

“We are continuing to remind the Defense Department of the needs in Mansfield, in Toledo, in Youngstown and in Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, that the president has no business legally or otherwise taking money from our national security and putting it into this vanity project,” Brown said.

Brown spoke for a few minutes with the media Tuesday at the reserve station after touring its new indoor firing range and the aerial spray unit that’s part of the 910th Airlift Wing, the only large, fixed-wing aerial spray unit within the U.S. Department of Defense.

The spray unit primarily sprays pesticide for insect control, but also does herbicide.

He said he was impressed with what he saw.

“You see how important YARS is to the Mahoning Valley and to our national security and our domestic (security) — taking care of areas, particularly after natural disasters — and the work that it does in so many ways,” Brown said. “That is why it is so important Sen. (Rob) Portman (R-Ohio) and I protect this base …”

The range, which simulates a variety of scenarios, is equipped with 21 lanes, each of which has a control panel and targets on motorized tracks. Targets can be moved closer to a shooter or farther away.

Light and noise settings are meant to mimic what military and law enforcement personnel might encounter in tactical environments. Once the nearby old range is demolished, military and law enforcement will be able to bring cars into the facility to train for tactical situations such as traffic stops and firing at vehicles.

It cost about $8.5 million to build and opened in July. It can also be used to train local law enforcement.

Before his tour of the reserve station, Brown was at the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley to promote his tax cut package that expands the earned income tax credit and child tax credit.