Texas blocks Biden from disposing of border wall materials before Trump takes office
Source: The Hill
12/27/24 10:27 PM ET
The Biden administration has been blocked from getting rid of any border wall materials over the next 30 days, passing the materials on for President-elect Trump to use as he chooses, according to a press release from the Texas attorney general office. “We have successfully blocked the Biden Administration from disposing of any further border wall materials before President Trump takes office,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in the release issued Friday.
“This follows our major victory forcing Biden to build the wall, and we will hold his Administration accountable for illegally subverting our Nation’s border security until their very last day in power, especially where their actions are clearly motivated by a desire to thwart President-elect Trump’s immigration agenda,” he added in the release.
The order followed a hearing requested by Paxton over reports that the Biden administration was selling parts of the border wall. Last week, Trump asked a court in the Southern District of Texas to intervene in alleged sales of border wall materials, accusing the Biden administration of selling off the materials after it was required to do so by Congress.
According to the release, Texas is also entitled to documentation that proves that the Biden administration has not disposed of border wall materials, which would violate an injunction from Paxton earlier this year that required the Biden Administration to spend statutorily obligated funds on building the wall.
Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5058230-texas-blocks-biden-from-disposing-of-border-wall-materials-before-trump-takes-office/
REFERENCE - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143359815
The law that authorized the2024 NDAA in (enacted at the end of 2023) REQUIRES that the Administration do what it was doing, which includes donating to local governmental entities, selling some, and disposing of some depending on the condition.
From what I posted here - https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=3359823
Congress required Biden Administration's sale of border wall materials
Some Republican are upset that the Biden administration is moving unused border wall materials out of the Arizona borderlands.
by Danyelle Khmara
When President Joe Biden took office and temporarily halted wall construction, piles of steel bollards and other materials were left at the border in Arizona.
The National Defense Authorization Act, also known as the NDAA, passed last year required the government to dispose of excess border wall materials by specific deadlines.
A Department of Defense official said that nearly 60% of these materials were transferred to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the states of Texas and California for refurbishing ports of entry or other border security projects.
The remaining 40% was sold to GovPlanet, an online platform for government surplus equipment, under a competitive sales contract that began in June.
(snip)
H.R.2670 - National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 (became law 12/22/2023)
Here is one reference in there -
CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS ON SOUTHWEST
BORDER.
(a) Plan. --Not later than 75 days after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit
to Congress a plan to use, transfer, or donate to States on the southern
border of the United States all covered materials, with prioritization
given to the refurbishment and or maintenance of ports of entry along
the southwest border and construction projects aimed at stopping illicit
human and vehicle traffic along the border of the United States with
Mexico.
(b) Elements.--The plan required by subsection (a) shall include the
following:
(1) A detailed proposal for the disposition of such covered
materials, including a timeline for disposition and the
authorities under which such disposition shall occur.
(2) An assessment of the condition of
such materials being stored, including (if applicable) a
description of materials that have depreciated in value, become
damaged, or been lost.
[[Page 137 STAT. 786]]
(c) Requirements of Requesting States. --
Any State requesting the covered materials made available under this
section must certify, in writing, that the materials it accepts will be
exclusively used for the refurbishment or maintenance of ports of entry
along the southwest border or construction projects aimed at stopping
illicit human and vehicle traffic along the border of the United States
with Mexico.
(d) Execution of Plan.--Not later than 100 days
after the date of submission of the plan required by subsection (a), the
Secretary of Defense shall commence execution of such plan until the
date on which the Department of Defense is no longer incurring any costs
to maintain, store, or protect the covered materials.
(e) Report.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment
of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to Congress a report
containing the following:
(1) A detailed description of the decision process of the
Secretary to forgo the excess property disposal process of the
Department of Defense and instead pay to store the covered
materials.
(2) A list of entities the Department is
paying for use of their privately owned land to store the
covered materials, with appropriate action taken to protect
personally identifiable information, such as by making the list
of entities available in an annex that is labeled as controlled
unclassified information.
(3) An explanation of the process through which the
Department contracted with private landowners to store the
covered materials, including whether there was a competitive
contracting process and whether the landowners have instituted
an inventory review system.
(4) A description of any investigations by the Inspector
General of the Department that have been opened related to
storing the covered materials.
(f) Definitions.--In this section, the term ``covered material''
means all remaining construction materials currently possessed by the
United States Government that were purchased under section 2808 and 284
of title 10, United States Code, from fiscal years 2017 through 2021,
including bollards and Nucor tubular square structural tubes.
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