U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville and other Republican members of the Senate Armed Services Committee are demanding the Department of Defense halt an auction of construction materials intended for the southern border.
The senators sent their concerns in a letter Tuesday to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin Tuesday
They believe the DoD is trying to get rid of as much border wall material as quickly as possible before the FINISH IT Act, introduced and sponsored by ranking member Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), can be implemented. The legislation requires the department to use the construction materials to secure the southwest border as originally planned or to give them to border states for that same purpose.
“We are deeply disappointed to learn that rather than using construction materials that were purchased to secure the southwest border for that purpose, the Department of Defense has begun auctioning these materials off for other purposes,” read the letter. “These auctions represent a brazen attempt to circumvent the FINISH IT Act, which was included in both the House and Senate FY2024 National Defense Authorization Act.”
The letter also calls for the Biden administration to direct the DoD Inspector General to investigate Melissa Dalton, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs, for not providing Congress correct and timely information about how the border wall materials were being used.
Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee have said that they will not agree to a confirmation hearing for the Under Secretary Defense for Policy until the issue is resolved.
Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News.
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