Joe Biden’s southern border policies have been an utter disaster and they’ve helped create a humanitarian crisis.
The number of unattended children held at the border has reached record highs and the number of illegal migrants continues to increase by the day.
Well, that’s what happens when you campaign on giving anyone who surges across the border an easy path to citizenship and free benefits.
And now, Biden has dug his southern border hole even deeper.
Per a request made by 40 Senate Republicans, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) launched an investigation into Biden for freezing funds meant for construction of the border wall.
The cash freeze and sudden stoppage of normal operations at the border immediately led to the humanitarian crisis that ensued.
This disaster was completely avoidable but Biden’s desire to score a political win has put the lives of Americans in danger.
Cartels are making a bigger fortune through human trafficking and drug smuggling.
And Biden’s Administration opened the floodgates to let it happen.
Now, the GAO will determine if his move to halt the funds on the border wall was illegal.
#NEW The Government Accountability Office has launched an investigation into the legality of President Biden’s move to halt construction of the southern border wall
— Greta Wall (@GretaLWall) March 24, 2021
https://twitter.com/NewRightNetwork/status/1374713273250111491
An unfavorable ruling from GAO would bolster Republicans in branding Biden as a rule-breaker as they blame him for the surge of migrants and unaccompanied children at the southern border.https://t.co/1y7BffzYA9
— POLITICO (@politico) March 24, 2021
New — Biden is under fire for his border wall cash freeze as a watchdog reviews the move, per a GOP request.
Republicans say the pause was illegal, not unlike Trump’s Ukraine aid freeze.
But there are several *major* differences to unpack: https://t.co/hk0ZjafQKq
— Caitlin Emma (@caitlinzemma) March 24, 2021
The Government Accountability Office is launching a review to determine whether Joe Biden broke the law by freezing the money in violation of budget rules designed to keep Congress in control of the cash flow.
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) March 24, 2021
https://twitter.com/TrumpJew2/status/1374751723588304905
Politico had the story:
On his first day in office, Biden hit pause on billions of dollars set to be spent on his predecessor’s long-touted barrier between the U.S. and Mexico while his administration figured out next steps for the money. Now the Government Accountability Office is launching a review to determine whether the new president broke the law by freezing the money in violation of budget rules designed to keep Congress in control of the cash flow, the federal watchdog confirmed this week.
An unfavorable ruling from GAO would bolster Republicans in branding Biden as a rule-breaker as they blame him for the surge of migrants and unaccompanied children at the southern border. The pause on spending “directly contributed” to that flood of border crossers, Senate Republicans said in their plea last week for GAO to opine on the issue. More than 70 House Republicans followed Tuesday in asking for a GAO opinion, which the watchdog typically provides whenever a member of Congress requests one.
“He was in the Congress a long time,” Blunt said in an interview. “He knows it’s the Congress’ job to authorize how the money is spent and the president’s job to spend it efficiently.”
Even if GAO decides Biden has illegally halted border wall funding, he is unlikely to face any formal punishment, particularly not the blowback and impeachment Trump went through after the former president halted Ukraine aid without Congress’s say-so. The White House also notes that Biden’s hold differs in several key ways from Trump’s move to lock up the foreign assistance, which GAO deemed illegal last year.
Biden’s proclamation in January “set this process in motion in a public, transparent way, while directing agencies to comply with appropriations law,” an OMB spokesperson said.
The probe highlights the challenge presidents have historically faced in fulfilling campaign promises that require money to be spent — or suspended — at odds with Congress’ intent. During his administration, Trump shifted money away from accounts for things like military construction projects to pay for the border barrier as he struggled to get congressional Democrats to agree to the funding levels needed to build the “big, beautiful wall” he promised his supporters. Now Biden is facing trouble in trying to turn off that funding spigot after saying last year that “not another foot of wall” would be constructed during his administration.
“The Biden administration has to be really careful about doing stuff like this, because otherwise they’re just going to be doing the exact thing the Trump administration did — just at the other end of the policy spectrum,” said Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, a manager at the watchdog group Project on Government Oversight.
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