US

40 GOP Senators Allege Biden’s Border Wall Freeze Is Illegal

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Nicole Silverio Media Reporter
Font Size:

Dozens of GOP senators alleged in a Wednesday letter that President Joe Biden’s freeze on border wall construction is a violation of federal law.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, joined by 39 GOP senators, wrote a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) requesting a legal opinion on Biden’s executive order to freeze funding for border wall construction. The senators say this order both violated the Impoundment Control Act (ICA), which prohibits the executive branch rejecting congressional funding, and contributed to the current border crisis.

“As these unlawful pauses have proceeded, the rate of illegal crossings has surged, creating a crisis amongst our southern border, at times with tragic consequences” the West Virginia senator wrote. “Meanwhile, billions in unlawfully appropriated dollars, which were provided by Congress to address precisely this issue, sit unused by the Biden Administration.”

The only lawful reason to freeze funds would be if Biden proposes a deferral, rescission, or point to a necessary step to begin a program, according to the letter. This would result in funds being put off until a later date, cancelled, or spending less money than was appropriated. (Related: Biden Rescinds Trump’s ‘Unwarranted’ National Emergency Declaration At Southern Border)

In either case the president must provide a reason for the decision to Congress, according to the letter.

The president can only defer funds to provide contingencies, achieve savings through greater efficiency of operations, or as specifically provided by the law, and for issues related to fiscal policy, according to the letter.

Freezing funding based on policy disagreements violates the ICA, according to the House Committee on the Budget.

The letter said Biden “bemoans” the construction of the border wall saying it is “not a serious policy solution” and “a waste of money.” The senators also said he cannot “unilaterally” freeze funding because he disagrees with the border wall’s construction.

The senators clarified that Biden has a right to issue a statement challenging the policy, but that he needs congressional approval to seize border wall funding.

 “It is his right to levy those criticisms, and he is free to propose budgets that advance his alternative approach for securing our nation’s borders,” the letter says. “But he cannot unilaterally impound funding provided by Congress in duly enacted appropriation laws.”

The letter cited an earlier GAO ruling against former President Donald Trump’s halt on security aid for Ukraine in 2019. The former administration’s halting of Ukraine aid was brought up during Trump’s impeachment proceedings in 2020.

The GAO ruled that the Trump administration violated the ICA for its handling of $400 million in congressional appropriations in security aid to Ukraine, according to the Government Executive. The administration withheld approximately $214 million in Defense Department funds and about $168 million in State Department aid.

Congress approved $1.4 billion in border wall funding as part of Trump’s $900 billion coronavirus stimulus package, Fox News reported.

Sens. Mitch McConnell and Marco Rubio were among the forty senators that signed the letter.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel