Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) introduced an amendment that would strip the nearly $5.7 billion in earmarks from the House Democrats’ surface transportation bill and use the money to establish a fund in the Treasury dedicated to constructing a border wall.
“Obligation authority made available under this paragraph shall remain available until September 30, 2025; and be in addition to the amount of any limitation imposed on obligations for Federal-aid highway and highway safety construction programs for fiscal year 2022 under section 102 or future fiscal years under any other provision of law,” the amendment to the INVEST in America Act reads in part.
“There is established a fund in the Treasury to be known as the ‘Border Wall Fund,'” the proposed amendment further stipulates.
“Funds provided into the Border Wall Fund may be used for the sole purpose of completing a border wall on the United States Mexico border,” it adds.
“Democrats included nearly $5.7 billion in corrupt earmarks in the surface transportation measure that is expected to receive a vote this week in the House. Instead of using federal taxpayer dollars to fund pet projects like electric vehicle charging networks in California and million-dollar sidewalk expansions in Connecticut, Congress should redirect these funds to address the ongoing and very real crisis at our southern border,” Roy said in a statement.
“Currently, primary, and secondary barriers cover only 771 miles of our nearly 2,000-mile border with Mexico, and the Rio Grande Valley sector — the busiest migrant crossing area — is wide open with only 76 miles of border wall to cover the river. My amendment would strike every single earmark from this legislation and instead authorize a $5.7 billion Border Wall Fund in Treasury to support the completion of a border wall on the U.S.-Mexico border,” he added.
Roy, whose Congressional District encompasses portions of San Antonio near the border, has been an outspoken critic of the Biden administration’s response to the border crisis. He recently questioned the point of Texas maintaining its place in the Union if the federal government refuses to police the deteriorating situation on the border.
“Every state in the union should send resources to the state of Texas to help us secure the border because, dadgummit, Texas is going to secure this border if the United States of America is failing to uphold its end of the bargain of our having a union,” Roy told The Daily Caller News Foundation on Friday.
“I’ve got people in Texas that are starting to rattle about ‘what are we getting out of this equation? What are we getting out of being a part of a union that won’t secure its own border?’” he continued. “You know what — it’s our border, too.”
Texas has “a duty as a state, as a sovereign people, to defend ourselves,” Roy said. “The first duty of government — to secure the people” and to “take care of our communities.”
Related: Chip Roy: Texans Wondering What Good Is It To Be Part Of ‘A Union That Won’t Secure Its Own Border’