President Joe Biden’s suspended border wall is costing tax payers a painful $3 million per day, with a total estimated price tag of at least $1.8 billion, according to a new Senate report.
On the very first day of his presidency, President Biden ordered the construction of the southern border wall be paused to review associated projects and funds.
The halt – which was supposed to only last 60 days – has now been in effect for more than 180 days and no clear end is in sight.
While its no surprise that Biden and the open-border loving Democrats have stalled the construction of the wall, the real shock comes with the cost associated with doing so.
Republicans discovered that the suspension initially cost $6 million per day, an amount that was later reduced to $3 million per day after Department of Defense contractors carried out layoffs. The GOP lawmakers cited records obtained from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, including estimates provided by the Pentagon in court filings.
“The Biden Administration is paying contractors at least $3 million per day to guard steel, concrete, and other materials in the desert. 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,” the senators wrote in the newly released interim report.
Senators who produced the report estimated the administration has spent between $618 million and $708 million to the contractors between Jan. 20 and July 15, and will ultimately spend up to $1.2 billion more to exit the border wall projects.
Former President Donald Trump’s administration prioritized border wall construction, building 453 miles of fencing along the U.S.–Mexico border. Approximately 211 miles of fencing were under construction as of Jan. 8, just before Biden entered office.
Republican senator James Lankford blasted 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.”
“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 said in his criticism of Biden, “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.”
Biden has made it clear he has no intention of fixing the crisis he created at the southern border, but this outright waste of taxpayer money is simply disrespectful to the hardworking American people.
Author: Jackson Hitts
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