House Budget Committee Republicans Call on GAO to Update Congress on Biden Border Investigation
Delayed Findings Enable Biden Administration to Continue to Break Law & Fuel Border Crisis
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A month since the Government Accountability Office (GAO) testified before the House Budget Committee that it was expecting responses imminently from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regarding GAO’s investigation into President Biden’s unlawful suspension of border wall construction, Republicans on the House Budget Committee sent a letter today to GAO Comptroller General Gene Dodaro requesting an update on the status of that investigation.“In GAO’s testimony, they claimed to have begun looking into President Biden’s decision to freeze funding for the border wall back in January, which means a report and findings are now long overdue,” said House Budget Committee Republican Leader Jason Smith (MO-08). “The continued delay only enables the Biden Administration’s failed policies that have created a national security and humanitarian crisis along the southern border.”
In their letter, House Budget Committee Republicans wrote, “In a hearing before the U.S. House Committee on the Budget on April 29, 2021, GAO stated it was currently working on this pending legal opinion. Specifically, GAO stated, ‘[w]e have asked OMB and DHS to provide factual and legal views to us. And we are expecting their responses now mid to late next week.’ This deadline has passed and therefore, we are requesting a status update on GAO’s investigation.”
House Budget Committee Republicans further highlighted how GAO acted quickly in 2019 – within two months of receiving a request from Congress – to investigate a similar incident. It has now been two months since Members of Congress made a request of GAO to investigate President Biden – who continues to withhold funds appropriated by Congress.
Read the full letter here.
