A Republican senator is slamming President Biden for terminating the declaration of a national emergency at the southern border while paying Department of Defense contractors millions of dollars not to build the wall, saying Biden “is paying professional construction contractors to babysit metal to the tune of $2 billion and counting.”
Oklahoma GOP senator James Lankford noted in a press release, “More than 180,000 migrants attempted to cross our southern border in June alone. On January 20, President Biden issued Presidential Proclamation 10142, which terminated the federally declared emergency at the southern border and halted the construction of the congressionally funded border wall, citing the need to ‘assess’ the wall’s construction.”
Lankford issued a scathing report in which it was noted that Biden’s “efforts to suspend or terminate border wall construction have cost taxpayers between $1.837 billion to $2.087 billion since January 20, 2021. This amount continues to increase by at least $3 million per day, according to records and data obtained by the Minority Staff of the Government Operations and Border Management (GOBM) Subcommittee of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC).”
“By the end of the Trump Administration, $10 billion had been transferred to U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) accounts for border wall construction and related projects,” the report noted. “As of June 2021, the Biden Administration has wasted roughly 20 percent ($2 billion) of that $10 billion on suspension and termination costs related to border wall contracts. This waste of taxpayer resources threatens military readiness and national security.”
“The Biden Administration is paying contractors at least $3 million per day to guard steel, concrete, and other materials in the desert,” the report stated. “At the same time, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has encountered over 1.1 million migrants along the Southwest border this fiscal year – a 20 year high.This policy decision raises significant concerns about the Biden Administration’s immigration agenda and requires both Congressional oversight and legislative action.”
Lankford blasted:
It is absolutely absurd that Americans are paying contractors to guard metal gates that President Biden refuses to install because he wants to “study” the wall. Stubbornly refusing to spend money approved for the wall is not “executing” the law. It’s ignoring the law and ignoring the very real national security concerns posed by illegal entry across our very open southern border. For years I have called out federal waste, but the Biden Administration is literally “going for broke” with this nonsense.
Our border patrol agents are doing their best to secure our border, but they need additional barriers, roads, and technology to help keep us safe. Instead, President Biden is paying professional construction contractors to babysit metal to the tune of $2 billion and counting, while at the same time we’ve seen a 20-year high number of migrants crossing our open border.
The press release concluded, “Lankford has stated he plans to hold every nominee for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) until the crisis at the southern border is handled and until the southern border wall is complete.”