The Biden administration has been selling off Trump-era border wall materials, including lots of square iron and steel wall tubing as recently as Wednesday, one day before President Joe Biden's about-face to build 20 miles of new wall.
The administration quietly began selling off the materials as far back as April on GovPlanet, an online auction house that specializes in military surplus. But only in August did reports surface about what the administration was doing.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) told Newsweek in August that the materials were being sold off "in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation."
"USACE has already transferred approximately $154 million worth of the roughly $260 million of bollard panels and other materials in accordance with standard excess property disposition procedures," a spokesperson said at the time. "USACE stands ready to implement a decision regarding disposition of the remaining materials."
And it caught the eye of House Republicans last month.
"The Biden Administration's decision to sell already purchased border materials is waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars," House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said Sept. 12. "The United States is facing the worst border crisis in our history due to the Biden Administration's policies. We should be using tools already at our disposal to stop the surge of illegal border crossings.
"These border materials have sat rotting in the sun since day one of President Biden's tenure when he signed a reckless proclamation halting border wall construction. ... I look forward to learning from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers what further negligence the Biden Administration is engaging in," Comer said.
The federal government has recouped $115,910 in October alone from selling off the 30-foot long tubing, which gets anchored into the ground with concrete. The administration made $455,100 in September and roughly half a million in August, too, off sundry materials.
The state of Texas bought some of the materials to build short sections of a border wall with state funds.
After pledging as part of his presidential campaign in 2020 that not "another foot of wall" would be constructed at the southern border during his administration, Biden's administration on Thursday reversed course. Using executive action, the administration waived 26 federal laws to allow for the construction of 20 miles of new wall in Starr County, Texas, with monies that were appropriated in 2019 for the border wall, he said.
"I can't stop that," Biden would say later in the face of criticism from progressives.
Congress approved $1.375 billion for additional fencing in the Rio Grande Valley area in 2019, requiring the monies be spent by Sept. 30.
However, on his first day of office in 2021, Biden used executive action to put a halt to the construction of the border wall.
In the meantime, lots of materials are set to be auctioned off the latter half of this month.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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