Biden under fire for border wall cash freeze
By: Caitlin Emma (MSN)
Oh boy. They're pickin' on Joe.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Like Donald Trump, Joe Biden has made a border wall promise he might not have the legal authority to keep.
© Julio Cortez/AP A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent looks on near a gate on the U.S.-Mexico border wall on March 21 in Abram-Perezville, Texas.
On his first day in office, Biden hit pause on billions of dollars set to be spent on his predecessor's long-touted barrier between the U.S. and Mexico while his administration figured out next steps for the money. Now the Government Accountability Office is launching a review to determine whether the new president broke the law by freezing the money in violation of budget rules designed to keep Congress in control of the cash flow, the federal watchdog confirmed this week.
An unfavorable ruling from GAO would bolster Republicans in branding Biden as a rule-breaker as they blame him for the surge of migrants and unaccompanied children at the southern border. The pause on spending "directly contributed" to that flood of border crossers, Senate Republicans said in their plea last week for GAO to opine on the issue. More than 70 House Republicans followed Tuesday in asking for a GAO opinion, which the watchdog typically provides whenever a member of Congress requests one.
Besides, Republicans say, Biden should know better after more than 30 years as a senator, as Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), chair of the Senate Republican Policy Committee, put it.
"He was in the Congress a long time," Blunt said in an interview. "He knows it's the Congress' job to authorize how the money is spent and the president's job to spend it efficiently."
Even if GAO decides Biden has illegally halted border wall funding, he is unlikely to face any formal punishment, particularly not the blowback and impeachment Trump went through after the former president halted Ukraine aid without Congress's say-so. The White House also notes that Biden's hold differs in several key ways from Trump's move to lock up the foreign assistance, which GAO deemed illegal last year.
Biden's proclamation in January "set this process in motion in a public, transparent way, while directing agencies to comply with appropriations law," an OMB spokesperson said.
The probe highlights the challenge presidents have historically faced in fulfilling campaign promises that require money to be spent — or suspended — at odds with Congress' intent. During his administration, Trump shifted money away from accounts for things like military construction projects to pay for the border barrier as he struggled to get congressional Democrats to agree to the funding levels needed to build the "big, beautiful wall" he promised his supporters. Now Biden is facing trouble in trying to turn off that funding spigot after saying last year that "not another foot of wall" would be constructed during his administration.
"The Biden administration has to be really careful about doing stuff like this, because otherwise they're just going to be doing the exact thing the Trump administration did — just at the other end of the policy spectrum," said Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, a manager at the watchdog group Project on Government Oversight.
In Biden's defense, administration officials make two main arguments.
First they say, halting funding for the border wall was needed to buy the administration time to come up with a plan for spending the money. An OMB spokesperson called it "a necessary and responsible step for prudent management of federal funds," considering the bevy of ongoing lawsuits against Trump's project.
White House officials add that the pause on funding has been formal and public, with plenty of time left to legally spend that cash and clear instructions that federal agencies must follow spending law. In contrast, they note, Trump tried to secretly seize funding like the Ukraine aid in 2019 and permanently tie up government money by taking action right before the annual spending deadline.
The Senate Republicans who asked GAO to weigh in on Biden's funding move said "billions in lawfully appropriated dollars … sit unused by the Biden administration," which amounts to a violation of a 1974 law that curbs a president's power to alter funding Congress provides.
"A lot of us agree that the border wall was a very stupid idea — a waste of money — but Congress decided to waste the money on that," said Hedtler-Gaudette. "The way to address that is not to have the executive branch override the legislative branch."
Legality aside, congressional leaders say both Trump and Biden's funding actions illustrate the need for more transparency and teeth in federal budget law.
Under the leadership of progressive Democrat John Yarmuth, the House Budget Committee "is determined to reassert and strengthen Congress' power of the purse" and "will review GAO's response to the senators' inquiry," a committee spokesperson said.
The Kentucky congressman also plans to reintroduce legislation that would "increase transparency around executive spending," the aide said. It's unclear if the Biden administration will support the bill, which would require OMB to make public its instructions for spending money, shedding light on the administration's funding decisions in a change that some advocates believe is necessary regardless of who is president.
Even though the Government Accountability Office determined that Trump's budget office violated the law when it froze U.S. military aid to Ukraine, the former president faced no penalty and was acquitted on impeachment charges of abusing his power by withholding the foreign assistance.
"Faithful execution of the law does not permit the president to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law," GAO wrote early last year.
The Trump administration's decision to impede hundreds of billions of dollars in military assistance to Ukraine happened behind closed doors until POLITICO broke the news in August 2019. OMB had used what's known as an apportionment footnote to hold up that money, which was released only a few weeks before it was set to expire.
Trump's OMB chalked it up to a "programmatic delay," an often-legitimate reason for spending pauses that the Government Accountability Office vehemently swatted down, citing the president's policy and political ambitions as congressional Democrats accused Trump of leveraging the funds to damage Biden's image ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
Trump's budget office also used the same tactics to enact a number of other policy goals, including a halt to funding for the World Health Organization amid accusations that it bungled the global response to the coronavirus pandemic and gave too much deference to China.
Drawing a distinction between Trump's actions and Biden's move, a current OMB official told POLITICO that the White House budget office under the new president has never used that apportionment tool to freeze money for border wall construction. A bipartisan government funding package signed into law late last year included $1.4 billion for the wall, in line with what Congress gave Trump through previous spending packages.
Biden's pause — which his administration also characterized as a "programmatic delay" — was announced publicly via presidential proclamation. The administration has also promised to release the money if the pause violated congressional intent.
The Biden administration still plans to spend the border wall funds, and agencies could ultimately divvy up the dollars for other wall-related purposes allowed by law, like fencing repairs.
Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.
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And still some wonder how we come to blame Mr. Biden for the influx. Just WTH do you think the "stop building the wall" message on day one meant to those south of the border and elsewhere?
Maybe they get the news in others countries too JJ.
How do you think this story played in Central America on November 18, 2020.
Kind of hard to blame Biden for what a Bush judicial appointee did to Trump in November.
Biden is left holding a bag he did not want.
Want to blame someone? Thank the ACLU. /s
So Biden isn't to blame for his campaign rhetoric; his numerous EO's on immigration turning back Trump measures such as keeping illegals in Mexico until their trial dates; trying to suspend ICE from deporting anyone for his first 100 days in office; and trying to stop completion of the border wall.
Typical Democrats taking 0 responsibility for anything they do; even Biden got out his "But Trruuummmmppppp!!!!!!!".
Biden had no plan in place to deal with the mess he created at the border. This is all his fault, period.
Do try to keep up with the news, not what you think the news is, by assumption.
Hundreds of new migrants still being expelled to Mexico as Joe Biden keeps one of Donald Trump's controversial policies
Except for the unaccompanied children, nothing much has changed in day to day operations on the border.
Except for blasting through National Parks and refuge to place fences
and new roads in the middle of nowhere that teens can scale in 2 minutes.
We are no longer a Republic. Laws are only followed when it suits the ruling left.
Democrats were all too willing to sue President Trump for violating the Flores Agreement, but are just as willing to let Joe Biden get away with violating the 21 day hold.
Amazing comment considering you fully supported a president who didnt want any laws at all to apply to him. The lack of self analysis is stunning.
I'm proud of supporting a President who put America and Americans first and found a way to have asylum seekers wait to be processed outside of the US.
The lack of self analysis is stunning.
Says the one who used NT as a soap box to spout outrage for 4 years
You too. They are following the 11/18/2020 court orders as best as possible.
No, they fucking aren't.
Want to pretend that there was a border crisis after Trump got Mexico to keep illegals on their side of the border until their trial dates?
Why weren't they surging the border during Trump's last year? Why are the numbers crossing now so damn high that Biden is in office?
Biden have been ringing the dinner bell for illegals long and loud since the primaries. Quit making excuses for him and the Democrats for getting exactly what they were working for.
Yeah, sure it's a brand new fucking problem and you are always right about e v e r y t h i n g /s
seems true but also to consider (which apparently The Biden administration didn't ) that many many immigrants were just sitting on our border thru part of trump's term waiting for any opportunity to try to come on in.
A human log jam as it was. Again evidently Not considered till the border was being over ran.
Duuuuu Piss poor planning at the border once again. sad
Please post a link to your evidence that Biden IS violating the Flores Agreement.
So this is a giant nothing burger...
Just because some GOP Senators have their panties in a knot doesn't mean there is any validity to their whining.
Same goes for the Dems.
What have the Dems referred to the GAO 1st?
Lemme clarify that for you Dulay since you apparently forgot what you wrote.
Just because some GOP Senators have their panties in a knot doesn't mean there is any validity to their whining.
Let's do - "Just because some Dem Senators have their panties in a knot doesn't mean there is any validity to their whining."
There - fixed it fer ya.
Actually, saying that there are "some" Senators would've been much more accurate on both our parts - ya think?
Sure as long as you admit that your version has NO relation to the seed or relevance.
Waiting on you as it was your post first.
Both sides - BOTH SIDES are at fault. Simple.
Nope. The GOP pitched a fit, NOT the Dems.
Lemme see - In 2016, and with the support of other world leaders, Joe Biden threatened to withhold $1 billion of U.S. aid unless Ukraine’s leaders fired the country’s top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, for being too soft on corruption—which they did, but nothing happened to Biden - no slap on wrist, no time-out, no nose in the corner.
Trump, for 55 days, stopped $400M to Ukraine and got Impeached.
WTF
OPENLY and TRANSPARENTLY setting standards for US LOAN guarantees for Ukraine is NOT the same as impounding Congressionally authorized military appropriations WITHOUT notifying the Congress [behind closed doors] and the LYING about it.
extortion considering we AREN'T the Ukraine and have no say in their affairs..............especially a VPotUS
THAT is an utterly uninformed statement Jim.
NO one and NOTHING is FORCING the Ukraine of any other country to accept or USE those loan guarantees.
The US guarantees loans for other countries, ESPECIALLY Israel. WE are NOT funding those loans, we are acting as a 'co-signer' and the Treasury has to set aside funds to cover a percentage of the loan if there is a default.
Your opinion is noted.
If I were to go into a financial institution and get approval for an SBA loan backed by the feds and it was almost a done deal until the feds inform me that I have to divorce my wife because they didn't like her or want her to have anything to do with the business, should I do it knowing full well I have poured many many hours and personal cash into said business. Would that be okay? Whether a "condition" or not, that is pure you can have it but bullshit and would possibly be considered discrimination.
Nothing in my comment was an opinion Jim.
Your SBA loan scenario is a ridiculous false equivalency and an utter failure.
Really have to enjoy the "so what if Biden is violating the law" arguments from the left.
Really puts their hysteria over the last four years about "Trump the dictator " into perspective.
Where?
The wall is a complete waste of money and Biden was correct to stop the funding. Ever since the first construction, people were going over, under, and around it. They were cutting through it with saws and even a high wind knocked over a panel. There was even ramps and a guy in a jeep drove over it.
Do nothing and pretend the problem doesn't exist is what they are doing now.
When that failed they went to their patented standby of blame Trump.
But Paula - the amount of traffic coming through the old barb-wire fences has been cut down tremendously.
However but - IF the wall is placed where it is scheduled to be placed, then the 100K Illegal Aliens wouldn't be crossing the river/creek/desert/ where there are minimal to no barriers.