Shortly after taking office, President Biden signed an executive order temporarily halting any further progress on the southern border barrier. Reportedly, this was so individual contracts could be evaluated, although no one knows what ‘litmus test’ will be applied during the evaluation. Plus, the administration added the notion of evaluating individual contracts after Biden campaigned on ending the project altogether.
Nevertheless, with that order, construction projects immediately came to a standstill. The end of the 60-day pause does not, however, signal an automatic restart of construction reports Breitbart Texas.
The pause on construction of the barrier costs taxpayers approximately $6,000,000 per day while pre-contracted construction sites remain empty, says a senior DHS official. Additional costs to taxpayers are likely on the horizon if the administration decides to permanently close out the contracts.
According to the DHS source, the continuing costs are required for materials ordered before the pause and expenses for the cost of equipment sitting idle. Although the Biden Admin. issued a stop-work order, contractors are entitled to be paid for rental expenses, costs of equipment ownership, and millions of dollars of materials ordered before work was halted.
The Biden administration has decided to keep the American public and contractors in the dark concerning which direction they will take at the end of the pause. Sadly, this “mum’s the word” attitude appears to be becoming a pattern for all things immigration, including the gag-order issued by the Admin. to prevent officials from discussing the ongoing crisis at the southern border.
“Information from other agencies within the new administration is equally elusive. USACE did not respond to a request for information concerning the end of the pause and the border wall contracts currently being evaluated,” reports Breitbart Texas.
The Secretary of DHS, Alejandro Mayorkas, said “We are on pace to encounter more individuals on the southwest border than we have in the last 20 years,” but adamantly refused to acknowledge that there is a crisis to begin with, much less his and the rest of the Biden Administrations’ responsibility for the surge.
For the complete article, please visit Breitbart News.
