Irate GOP leaders say Biden's administration is selling off unused border wall materials

Republican lawmakers and allies on Thursday seized on a Senate report showing President Joe Biden's administration has auctioned off materials used to craft the U.S.-Mexico border wall.

The conservative Daily Wire posted a video Thursday claiming, "Weeks before Trump takes office, Biden is racing to auction off unused border wall materials."

"Video shows trucks hauling wall materials off the border to a government auction site, where a massive amount of wall is waiting to be sold," the Wire wrote.

In 2022, the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Government Operations and Border Management Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs filed a report claiming that the government is wasting money by having contractors and workmen stand around guarding materials for the border wall.

The report said Biden came into office and ordered an "assessment" of construction projects for the Southern border. Republicans have said the pause meant a $3 million bill each day, according to data collected by their staff. However, the overwhelming majority of the bill comes from "suspension costs."

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WRAL fact-checked that report saying, "The estimate of $3 million in costs per day has not been confirmed independently."

GOP officials have complained that too much money has been spent guarding the materials and having contractors wait on "standby" while the border fence was in a holding pattern. It left the administration with the option of storing the materials elsewhere, using them to build the wall, abandoning them, or selling them off.

Some were farmed out to other states to have them build the wall.

"In February 2022, more than 1,700 unused panels were donated by the federal government to Texas to help build Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s state-funded border wall," the Arizona Daily Star reported. It totaled about $6 million in value, a Defense Department spokesman said at the time.

The remainder of the materials became part of an auction, and money was earned back. That fact infuriated Republicans who complained about it last year — and continue to do so.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) complained Thursday that the materials were being auctioned off as part of a rushed effort by Biden, TNND reported.

Materials have been part of an auctioning process for over a year, with an Alabama man buying some in September.

Even so, Cruz repeated his party's complaints.

“President Biden is rushing to sell off sections of the wall that are yet to be built,” he said, according to TNND. “President Biden and Kamala Harris have successfully put illegal aliens over the safety and security of our own citizens. Never forget why the American people rejected them.”

In May 2023, Cruz co-authored the Finish It Act with Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), which would have forced the federal government to use or transfer the materials to state governments.

Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) even complained on X that she "introduced legislation FOUR YEARS AGO to give Texas this unused border wall material so we can build it ourselves."

“The Administration completely ignored our requests and is now using its final weeks to further cripple our national security. Unf-ingbelieveable," she added.