Wicker, Ernst demand DOD halt sale of border wall materials

U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker (R-MS), Joni Ernst (R-IA) and other Republican members of the Senate Armed Services Committee called on the Department of Defense to stop auctioning off approximately $260 million in border wall construction materials, an action that circumvents the intent of Congress.

“We are deeply disappointed to learn that rather than using construction materials that were purchased to secure the southwest border for that purpose, the Department of Defense has begun auctioning these materials off for other purposes,” the senators wrote in an Aug. 22 letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

The senators said the auctions represent an attempt to circumvent the FINISH IT Act, a bill that was included in both the House and Senate Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act.

Sen. Wicker, ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, sponsored the FINISH IT Act in May along with cosponsor Sen. Ernst. The legislation requires the Department to use the wall construction materials to secure the southwest border as originally intended, or to transfer them to border states for that purpose.

The lawmakers in their letter demand that the department suspend all auctions of border wall construction materials. They also call on the administration to direct the Department of Defense Inspector General to investigate Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs Melissa Dalton for her failure to provide Congress accurate and timely information about the use of the border wall construction materials.

U.S. Sens. Deb Fischer (R-NE) and Mike Rounds (R-SD) also signed the letter.