Name: Biden Admin Quietly Auctioning Off Parts of Trump's Border Wall
Uploaded: 2023-08-21T18:56:04.000Z
Description: Apparently making good on President Joe Biden's pledge not to build "another foot" of former President Donald Trump's signature border wall, the Biden administration has been quietly auctioning off wall materials, reports indicate.

NTD Newsroom comprises teams of reporters, editors, and producers assigned to cover breaking news and other stories.


NTD Newsroom

NTD Plus

News

News you can trust from the U.S. and around the world. Critical information and insight. We cover the stories that others don’t. NTD News Today airs Monday–Friday at 11 a.m. ET.

NTD News Today

Trump Announces National Garden of American Heroes Plans

Top Officer: Navy Funding Could Lapse by July

UK Health Secretary Quits Starmer’s Cabinet

Paul Greaney is an NTD news anchor and producer. Since joining the company in 2018, he has anchored the station’s flagship Evening News broadcast, launched the NTD Business show, and produced documentary reports on pointed issues. 

The highlight of Paul’s time in the field was his coverage of the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests in 2019.

Paul Greaney

Chinese Leader Hates It When ‘Human Rights’ Is Raised: Col. Grant Newsham on Trump’s China Visit

Man Convicted of $1 Billion Medicare Fraud in Florida

Retail Sales Rose for 3rd Straight Month in April

Former Spirit Airlines Workers Sue for Pay, Benefits

Bessent: China Needs Hormuz Strait Open More Than US

Victoria Friedman is a UK-based reporter covering a wide range of national stories.

Victoria Friedman

World News

Middle East

Israel–Hamas War

Netanyahu Considers Suing New York Times Over Column Alleging Rape of Palestinian Prisoners

Russia Unleashes Heaviest Wartime Drone Assault on Ukraine

Stefania Cox is an NTD News anchor and national correspondent based at the network's global headquarters in New York City. Stefania anchors "NTD Newsroom," and co-anchors "NTD News Today" weekdays at 10:00 am ET.

Stefania Cox

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (May 15)

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (May 14)

Kevin Hogan is an NTD News data reporter and national correspondent based at the network's global headquarters in New York City. Kevin covers breaking news, as well as U.S. and global current events. He conveys the news through data visualizations and investigates pressing issues.

Kevin Hogan

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (May 13)

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (May 12)

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (May 11)

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (May 8)

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (May 7)

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (May 6)

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (May 5)

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (May 4)

Fast, compelling, first-hand news from China. China in Focus airs Monday–Friday at 8 p.m. ET.

China in Focus

China Sends Warships to Pacific Drill as Tensions With Japan Rise

Reuters is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages.

Reuters

We present news that is truthful and based on facts, outside of the political fog. Instead of focusing on the negative things happening around us, our mission is to give our viewers a good morning with empathetic and uplifting stories. Our aim is to provide an antidote to negativity by shining a light on the best side of people. We speak to inspiring people who positively impact communities, pursue topics that represent our common human values, and will never miss an opportunity to bring you heartwarming stories.

NTD Good Morning

2 US Embassy Personnel Assigned to Cartel Case Killed in Car Accident

The Associated Press is an American not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. 

The Associated Press

US News

Gunman Kills 8 Children, Including 7 of His Own, in Louisiana Mass Shooting

Flora Hua is a reporter based at NTD's global headquarters in New York City, where she covers China news, U.S.-China relations, and human rights issues. Flora primarily contributes to NTD's "China in Focus."  

Flora Hua

Trump: Seized Iranian Ship May Have ‘A Gift From China’

Joseph Lord is a congressional reporter for The Epoch Times.


Joseph Lord

Aldgra Fredly is a freelance writer covering U.S. and Asia Pacific news for The Epoch Times.

Aldgra Fredly

Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani Hospitalized in Critical Condition: Spokesman

Wildfires Across Georgia and Florida Have Destroyed Nearly 50 Homes and Are Forcing Evacuations

US Warns of China Hacks via Routers, Smart Devices

Juliet Song is an international correspondent exclusively covering China news for NTD. She primarily contributes to NTD's "China in Focus," covering U.S.-China relations, the Chinese regime's human rights abuses, and domestic unrest inside China.

Juliet Song

2 Americans Among Suspected Communist Rebels Killed in Clashes With Troops, Philippine Officials Say

Ryan Morgan is a reporter for The Epoch Times focusing on military and foreign affairs. He was previously a news writer for NTD. 


Ryan Morgan

Mari Otsu is NTD's White House correspondent based in Washington. 

Mari Otsu

Iran

3 US Warships Fend Off Iranian Attacks, Trump Says Ceasefire Still Holds

Health News

3 Dead in Suspected Hantavirus Outbreak on Cruise Ship in Atlantic Ocean: WHO

Apparently making good on President Joe Biden's pledge not to build "another foot" of former President Donald Trump's signature border wall, the Biden administration has been quietly auctioning off wall materials, reports indicate.

Determined to plug the gaps in America's porous southern border and stem the flow of illegal immigration into the country, President Trump erected over 450 miles of new wall during his term in the White House. Faced with funding hurdles, President Trump even notably diverted some Pentagon funds to build the wall.

President Biden, by contrast, has taken a dim view of his predecessor's vision for a grand barrier, <a href="https://twitter.com/lourdesgnavarro/status/1291000306915057669?s=20">pledging while</a> still a presidential candidate that "there will not be another foot of wall constructed in my administration."

On the same day that he took office, President Biden <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/proclamation-termination-of-emergency-with-respect-to-southern-border-of-united-states-and-redirection-of-funds-diverted-to-border-wall-construction/">issued a proclamation</a> that rescinded the national emergency declaration President Trump relied on to divert some $10 billion from Pentagon coffers for border wall construction.

“It shall be the policy of my Administration that no more American taxpayer dollars be diverted to construct a border wall,” President Biden's declaration states.

President Joe Biden boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Md. on Jan. 8, 2023. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

And now, further proof that President Biden meant what he said about nixing wall construction comes in the form of reports that the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), the combat logistics support branch of the Department of Defense (DOD), is disposing of border wall elements.

A DLA spokesperson <a href="https://powercorridor.thedailyupside.com/p/exclusive-pentagon-sells-off-trump">confirmed to Power Corridor</a> that a number of items <a href="https://www.govplanet.com/industrial-construction">up for auction</a> on GovPlanet, an online auction marketplace, are "excess border wall materials that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers turned over to the DLA for disposition" and that these items are now "for sale."

The auction site makes no mention of the origin of the materials, <a href="https://www.govplanet.com/industrial-construction">listing them</a> generically as "steel tubing and sticks for industrial construction," with some <a href="https://www.govplanet.com/for-sale/Construction-Materials-%28162%29-Nucor-Tubular-28%27-x-6%22-x-6%22-A500-Grade-B%28C%29-Square-Structural-Tubes-Arizona/10245321?h=5000%2Csm%7C1%2Cms%7CG%2Ck%7Csquare+structural%2Csort%7Cad+desc%2Cmf%7C1&rr=0.16667&hitprm=&pnLink=yes">identified as</a> "square structural tubes."

Part of a border wall between the United States and Mexico in a file photo. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Pentagon spokeswoman Raini Brunson <a href="https://dailycallernewsfoundation.org/2023/08/19/biden-admin-quietly-disposing-of-trump-border-wall-materials-to-be-auctioned-off/">told the Daily Caller News Foundation</a> that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) “is disposing of the excess border wall materials in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation.”

Since April, the online auctioneer has sold over 80 lots of steel "square structural tubes," which were meant for use as vertical elements in the border wall's panels, with 13 more lots going under the hammer on Aug. 23 and Aug. 30, <a href="https://www.govplanet.com/industrial-construction?ms=G&sm=0&fp=D&k=square%20structural&mf=1#ms=&sm=0&k=square%20structural&mf=1">according to</a> GovPlanet.

Neither the DLA nor the DOD responded to a query from The Epoch Times.
<h2>'Finish the Wall'</h2>
Republicans, who have been deeply critical of President Biden on border security, <a href="https://www.wicker.senate.gov/2023/5/wicker-cruz-ernst-introduce-finish-it-act">introduced legislation</a> in May that would force the Pentagon to allow millions of dollars worth of unused border wall components to be used to extend the wall along the southern border.

Called the "Finish It Act," the legislation would require the federal government to either deploy the materials or transfer them to states, which would then use them to construct the wall.

The legislative proposal (<a href="https://www.wicker.senate.gov/services/files/72982BAF-6C33-4ADC-AD43-774937A1BE60">pdf</a>) came after an <a href="https://www.wicker.senate.gov/2023/3/wicker-colleagues-biden-s-border-wall-blockade-has-cost-330m">investigation by the Armed Services Committee</a> found that the Pentagon was spending $47 million per year to store the wall panels and other elements.

“President Biden could not have created a worse border crisis if he tried, but he continues to stand in the way of a solution,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the bill’s sponsor, said in a statement in May.

“As Senate Republicans revealed earlier this year, his Administration is forcing the Department of Defense to spend millions of dollars a year to let border panels go unused when they could be used to secure our border," he continued.

"It is time for the President to put these materials to use and finish the wall,” Mr. Wicker added.

And now, amid reports that the Biden administration is busy selling off border wall components rather than allowing them to be used to build more wall, Mr. Wicker called the development “outrageous, behind-the-scenes maneuvering.”

“This sale is a wasteful and ludicrous decision by the Biden administration that only serves as further proof they have no shame,” Mr. Wicker <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/08/19/biden-sells-border-wall-parts-to-thwart-gop-push-to-use-them/">told The New York Post</a>.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), co-sponsor of the Finish It Act and a frequent critic of President Biden's border policies, was searing in his criticism of what he said amounted to a fire sale.

“Leaving the border open to terrorists while selling border security materials at a loss is Bidenomics in a nutshell,” Mr. Cotton told The Post.

It's unclear how much money from the sale of the materials has flown into the Pentagon's budget.

Lt. Col. Devin T. Robinson told The Post that USACE has disposed of roughly $154 million worth of border wall materials out of a total stockpile worth around $260 million.

<em>From <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/biden-admin-quietly-auctioning-off-parts-of-trumps-border-wall-5476961">The Epoch Times</a></em>

Latest

DONALD TRUMP

Videos

border wall

Politics

04_Top Stories

auction

Latest Clips

Management

Immigration &amp; Border Security

Tom Ozimek is a senior reporter for The Epoch Times. He has a broad background in journalism, deposit insurance, marketing and communications, and adult education.

Tom Ozimek

02_Second Lead

Latest and breaking news, documentaries, movies, and lifestyle content on NTD+.
 
Empower your knowledge and elevate your spirit with NTD+, your go-to destination for truthful news, insightful documentaries, and captivating lifestyle content that enriches your life.