By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times - Wednesday, March 17, 2021
Republican senators requested an investigation into President Biden’s order to pause border wall construction, saying Wednesday that the directive is “a blatant violation of federal law” because it blocks spending Congress specifically authorized.
Led by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, the 40 senators asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate.
While Mr. Biden had the power to cancel some construction being paid for by funds shifted from within unrelated Pentagon accounts, the senators wrote that he did not have the power to block billions of dollars Congress specifically approved for the wall.
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Sputnik International
Forty Senate Republicans are accusing Joe Biden of unlawfully freezing funds appropriated for Trump s southern border wall – a move they say led to the entirely avoidable border crisis
A group of 40 GOP senators sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office claiming Joe Biden freezing border wall construction is unlawful
Effort led by Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security Ranking Member Shelley Moore Capito and Appropriations Vice Chair Richard Shelby
The senators claim the crisis at the southern border was entirely avoidable The President s actions are. a blatant violation of federal law and infringe on Congress s constitutional power of the purse, they wrote
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Source: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File
A group of Republican senators, led by Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), wrote to Government Accountability Office (GAO) Controller General Gene L. Dodaro about President Biden’s executive action related to the southern border.
The lawmakers point out that Biden froze funding for the border wall that was allocated by Congress under the Trump administration, and argue that this move was a violation of the constitution.
“On January 20th, in one of the first official acts of his presidency, Joseph Biden suspended border wall construction and ordered a freeze of funds provided by Congress for that purpose. In the weeks that followed, operational control of our southern border was compromised and a humanitarian and national security crisis has ensued. The President’s actions directly contributed to this unfortunate, yet entirely avoidable, scenario. They are also a blatant violation of federal law and infringe on Congress’s c
National
Wednesday, March 17, 2021 at 4:31 pm | ד ניסן תשפ א
WASHINGTON (CQ-Roll Call/TNS) -
Wednesday, March 17, 2021 at 4:31 pm | ד ניסן תשפ א
A new section of border wall constructed in a remote expanse of desert outside Yuma, Arizona, under the Trump administration. (Molly O’Toole/Los Angeles Times/TNS)
Dozens of Senate Republicans on Wednesday accused President Joe Biden of violating federal spending law when he froze funding for border wall construction, an action they say gave rise to an uptick in illegal border crossings.
Sen. Richard C. Shelby, R-Ala., ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee; Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., ranking member of that panel’s Homeland Security subcommittee; and 38 other GOP senators wrote to the Government Accountability Office, criticizing Biden’s decision. The president signed an executive order suspending construction on the U.S.-Mexico border wall, and any funding for the project,