House Republicans: Infrastructure Package Must Include Border Wall Construction

A group of House Republicans is urging the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to include border wall construction at the United States-Mexico border in any infrastructure package.

The group of 40 House Republicans, led by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), wrote to ranking members of the House Transporation and Infrastructure Committee, asking them to ensure that an infrastructure package includes the construction of a border wall.

“… we urge you to include language to prioritize the continued and completed construction of the southern border wall and complementary border security infrastructure,” the House Republicans write:

As you know, in December 2020, Congress approved $1.375 billion for border wall construction. Despite this congressional direction, the Biden administration not only abruptly and irresponsbily ended immigration policies that were successfully discouraging illegal entry and effectively managing asylum claims, it also suspended ongoing construction at the border. This left multiple gaps in the nearly completed southern border infrastructure, which are repeatedly exploited by smugglers and migrants to illegally access the United States. As a result, the Biden administration — though less than 11 weeks old — has caused a record number of migrants to cross the southern border. [Emphasis added]

…

As the Committee considers multiple infrastructure requests, continuation of border construction is not only a fundamental priority for our communities — but for our national security as well. It is a proven, effective, cost-efficient, shovel-ready project that will benefit all Americans from the workers who build it, to the agents that defend our borders, to the communities that are made safer from narcotics to the fight to combat human trafficking we know is happening every day. [Emphasis added]

Read the full letter:

Letter to TI Border Infrast… by John Binder

While House Republicans urge the inclusion of border wall construction in an infrastructure package, House and Senate Democrats wrote to President Joe Biden’s administration begging them to include amnesty for illegal aliens in any such plan.

“Essential workers are American heroes — and they have earned the right to become American citizens,” the group of Democrats wrote, referring to illegal aliens.

Immediately after Biden took office in late January, he halted the construction of border wall that had been underway during the Trump administration. The move has resulted in an investigation by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to determine whether Biden violated congressional directives by halting construction.

Photos from south Texas reveal how Biden’s halting construction has meant that materials, funded by previous budgets and authorized funding, are languishing.

Biden’s decision to halt construction cost American taxpayers about $6 million a day, an exclusive Breitbart News report revealed. Former Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Director Mark Morgan said the move has killed about 5,000 construction jobs as well as other jobs in the steel, concrete, and technology industries.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.