November 03, 2023

House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington Demands Answers on Fiscal Cost of Biden Border Failures

House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-TX) sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas once again demanding accounting from DHS on the fiscal impact of Biden’s border policies.
 
The House Budget Committee has sent several letters to Secretary Mayorkas as far back as the 117th Congress and as recently as September 12, 2023 – despite the pressing nature of this issue, DHS has not provided the requested information to the Committee.
 
Chairman Arrington’s letter demands a response to the following questions no later than November 30, 2023: 

  1. Documents sufficient to show the amount of congressionally appropriated funds for the border wall that remain withheld due to a programmatic delay. 
     
  2. All documents and communications regarding the timeframe for the expenditure of any funds that remain withheld and the purposes and activities for which such funds will be spent.
     
  3. All documents and communications regarding the amount of funding expended by the Department of Homeland Security to address the influx of migrants at the southern border.
     
  4.  All documents and communications regarding the amount of funding the Department of Homeland Security projects to spend on the border crisis in fiscal year 2024. 
     
  5. Documents sufficient to show the total cost of transporting, housing, relocating, and releasing illegal aliens in Department of Homeland Security custody. 
     
  6. All documents and communications regarding the amount of funding the Department of Homeland Security has disbursed to nonprofit organizations to house, feed, and transport illegal aliens. 
     
  7. Documents sufficient to show the amount of funding the Department of Homeland Security has allocated to construction of new border barriers, including the costs associated with unused materials due to the pause in construction of the border wall system. 
     
  8. All documents and communications detailing how the Department of Homeland Security plans to use any supplemental funding for fiscal year 2024, including how such funding would be used to enforce security at the southern border.

 
Pursuant to House Rule X, the Committee has jurisdiction over the budget process, including the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 and the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985. Therefore, the Committee has a responsibility to “assess OMB’s legal authorities to manage federal spending.” The documents and materials requested by the Committee will inform its review of the fiscal impact of the Biden Administration’s border policies and assist the Committee in making the legislative judgments required as part of the federal budget process.
 
See the full letter HERE. 

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