71 Members of Congress Join Call for Investigation of Wall Construction Suspension

WASHINGTON, DC – As the crisis at the border continues to intensify, 71 Republican Members of Congress, led by Rep. John Katko (R-NY), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, and Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO), Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee, joined 40 Republican U.S. Senators in calling for a Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation of the Biden Administration’s suspension of wall system construction contracts funded by bipartisan congressional appropriations.

In a letter to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, the Members of Congress wrote, “We are writing to be added as co-requesters of a March 17, 2021 letter, signed by 40 United States Senators, requesting the Government Accountability Office’s legal opinion on the actions of the Biden Administration to suspend border wall construction and to order a freeze of funds provided by Congress for that purpose, which we believe violated the Impoundment Control Act.”

In addition to Katko, Granger, and Smith, the letter is signed by Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), and all Republican Members of the House Homeland Security and Appropriations committees.

Highlights of the Senate letter, which the Members of Congress joined today, include:

• In the weeks that followed suspension of wall system construction, operational control of our southern border was compromised, and a humanitarian and national security crisis ensued;
• The President’s actions directly contributed to this crisis;
• The President’s actions are a violation of federal law and infringe on Congress’s constitutional power of the purse, including violation of the Impoundment Control Act, as interpreted by GAO; and
• The request of GAO’s legal opinion on the matter.

Ranking Member Katko sent a similar letter to the Department of Homeland Security following the President’s executive action to suspend wall system construction, including the integration of technology into physical border barriers.

View the letter sent by Katko, Granger, Smith, and other Members here.

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