Senate Republicans introduced a bill Tuesday that would require the Department of Defense to either use the available materials it has to keep building the southwest border wall or transfer those materials to states so that they can do the work.
In 2021, the Biden administration decided to stop all border wall construction, a decision that is costing $130,000 per day or roughly $50 million per year to store the unused materials, according to information provided by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to Republican members of the Senate Armed Forces Committee.
BIDEN WOULD VETO GOP’S BORDER SECURITY BILL: ‘MAKE THINGS WORSE’
The “Finish It Act,” introduced by Sens. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, requires the Secretary of Defense to submit a plan to Congress for using, transferring or donating these materials “for the express purpose of constructing a permanent physical barrier to stop illicit human and vehicle traffic along the border of the United States with Mexico.” The bill also puts pressure on states to use the materials to keep building the wall, by requiring them to pay back the cost of these goods if they are not used within two years.
Wicker said the bill is necessary to ensure either the Biden administration or the states finally take steps to secure the border.
“President Biden could not have created a worse border crisis if he tried, but he continues to stand in the way of a solution,” Wicker told Fox News Digital. “It is time for the President to put these materials to use and finish the wall.”
The Department of Defense would also be required to provide information to Congress regarding internal correspondence on its decision not to use border wall material and instead spend millions of dollars to store it. A failure by the agency to comply would result in a 1% decrease in travel budget of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.
“President Biden’s policies have created the worst border crisis that the United States has ever faced,” Cruz told Fox News Digital. “This administration is utterly lawless, and that lawlessness is not just endangering the safety and security of Americans, but also draining America’s Treasury. We are paying extra to not build a wall on our southern border.”
The push from Senate Republicans comes as the so-called “Title 42” is set to expire Thursday, which has been used to limit the entry of illegal immigrants in order to tamp down on the spread of COVID. The Biden administration will deploy 1,500 agents to the border to counter an expected influx of migrants once the policy falls away.
“The Southern border will go from crisis to catastrophe due to President Biden’s own failure,” Ernst told Fox News Digital. “Instead of securing the border, the Biden administration canceled border wall projects and left materials to rack up dirt and dough.”
