Radio host Hugh Hewitt on Monday told Republican Sen. James Lankford (Oklahoma), the lead Republican negotiator on the bipartisan border security bill announced Sunday, that the bill included The lack of provisions mandating the construction of a wall along the country’s border.
The bipartisan bill “Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2024” does not mandate the construction of a border wall, but it does provide a total of $118 billion for a variety of issues, including not only border security but also aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia and aid to Israel in its conflict with Hamas. I plan to use it. Lankford, exterior On Hewitt’s show, he defended the bill’s language, arguing that the wall would be “protected for the next administration” and would allow future Republican administrations to use wall-building powers. (Related: Senate releases text of long-awaited bipartisan border security bill)
“Why not start now? Why not build the whole thing? And why not finish it by November, Senator?” Hewitt asked Lankford. “[D]Are we going to call for a complete wall now, as President Trump sought to do during his first term? ”
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In response, Lankford argued that while the power was granted to allow Democrats and Republicans to debate the wall with voters in the 2024 presidential election, building the wall was not mandated. “Biden has fought against building a wall over and over again on this issue, forcing that money to only be used for that and must be used for that. “And if Trump wins the November election, there’s going to be a lot of money out there ready to build a wall,” Lankford said. Told.
Mr. Hewitt was not convinced. “But you could have written a law saying we’d build this wall in six months. And America can do that, but you couldn’t do that. You asked for that. I’m wondering if there is[?]” he pressed Lankford.
Lankford responded that mandating wall construction during the remainder of the Biden administration would be impossible because the process would take so long. “It is physically impossible to actually do this on a construction site to achieve this,” he said.
“The total distance to the border is 2,000 miles. The actual construction distance is about 750 miles. So if you’re actually talking about completing the last 1,250 miles within the next six months, no, actually. They didn’t do that,” Lankford noted, adding:[the Biden administration’s] They will find a way around it and try to misuse that money. ”
The text of the bill states, “Funds appropriated under this section for physical pedestrian barriers shall be used for the construction of steel bollard pedestrian barriers constructed with an effective height of at least 18 to 30 feet and reinforced with anti-vibration material.” It cannot be used for any purpose other than construction.” Climbing function and anti-digging function. ” Lankford argued that this peculiarity could lead to the construction of a wall.
“[W]Put aside the plan and figure out how it needs to be carried out, when to make sure money is not wasted on anything other than steel bollards, and the specific design with anti-climb parts on it. I will consider it,” he said. . “[W]In fact, we were confident that we would pull this off. ”
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