Letter to the Hon. Kamala Harris, Vice-President of the United States - Newhouse Urges VP Harris to Address the Border Crisis, Allow Wall Construction to Continue

Letter

Dear Madam Vice President:

We are alarmed by the staggering number of migrants that have been apprehended while illegally crossing the southwest border during this Administration's first 100 days. As the President's designee to address the flow of migrants at our border, we are writing to seek an update on the results of the 60-day pause and review of border wall construction contracts and to insist that funds appropriated for border security be used immediately to address this crisis.

We are extremely concerned that the President ordered a 60-day pause on border wall construction on his first day in office, one of the many Administration policies that are now emboldening cartels to engage in human trafficking, encouraging migrants to undertake an often dangerous journey, and putting our nation's security at risk. We also have raised with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) the question of whether this pause represents an illegal impoundment of funds based on GAO's previous interpretations of the Impoundment Control Act.

It is now more than a month past the end of the 60-day construction pause, and the Administration has yet to provide any details to Congress and the public on the results of the review and the status of funds appropriated for this specific purpose. We are concerned that taxpayer funds are being wasted while this pause continues. Making matters worse, the Administration proposes to cancel any unused border wall funding at the end of fiscal year 2021, just five months from now, while refusing to make such funds available for obligation in the meantime.

We request that you provide to the Committee on Appropriations the results of the review, including:

the metrics that are being used to determine whether continued construction will occur by border sector;
the status of funds previously appropriated and made available for construction;
a list of all payments made or expected for contractors who could not complete work during the period of the pause; and
a full accounting of any other costs that have been incurred by the government while construction was prohibited by the Administration.
Border wall construction funds were appropriated by the Congress as a result of bipartisan, bicameral negotiations and should be spent as provided in law. As you can see by the unprecedented number of apprehensions reported by Customs and Border Protection, we are in a state of emergency that requires action, not delay in spending the funds Congress has already made available. We stand ready to work with our security and law enforcement agencies to address this crisis and look forward to receiving your response.