Border wall gets no new funds in Biden's budget | Dump Trucks Charlotte NC

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When fielding a question earlier this month about reports that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was considering filling "gaps" in the border wall, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said during a press briefing that federal agencies are continuing to review border wall contracts and will submit a plan to the president soon.

"It is paused," she said. "There is some limited construction that has been funded and allocated for, but it is otherwise paused."

Senate Republicans have pushed back against the Biden administration's halt to border wall construction and have asked the  U.S. Government Accountability Office Comptroller Gene L. Dodaro for a legal opinion as to whether the move violated the Impoundment Control Act. At the core of their complaint is that the act prohibits the president from withholding funds obligated by Congress.

Although former President Donald Trump diverted money from the Defense Department for wall construction under a national emergency declaration, Congress also appropriated an average of $1.4 billion per year for wall repair, replacement and construction from 2018 through 2021.

The discretionary funding request also included other construction-related items such as:

• $11.2 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency, which includes $3.6 billion for water infrastructure improvements.
• $6.8 billion for the U..S. Army Corp of Engineers civil works program.
• $2 billion for federal building construction.
• $10.2 billion to the National Science Foundation, which includes funding for the construction of research facilities.