Texas and Missouri attorneys general filed a federal lawsuit in southern Texas against President Joe Biden and U.S. Homeland Security Dept. Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, seeking to reinstate cancelled federal border wall construction contracts and asking the court to require the administration to spend the billions of dollars previously appropriated by Congress.

The Republican state officials claim in the Oct. 21 suit that President Biden does not have constitutional or statutory authority to refuse to spend the funds as directed.

Biden in January directed Homeland Security to pause the obligation of funds for border wall construction and has since cancelled all construction contracts. The terminations included two contracts awarded last year for barrier sections in south Texas reported to be valued at about $1 billion, with work not begun.

The agency said October 8 that congressionally appropriated funds from 2018 through 2021 will be used for environmental studies at border wall sites. “Until and unless Congress cancels those funds, the law requires DHS to use the funds consistent with their appropriated purpose, and beginning environmental planning activities is part of the Department’s plan to do so,” DHS said in a news release.

德克萨斯州肯·帕克斯顿（Ken Paxton）和密苏里州埃里克·S·施密特（Eric S.该诉讼指出，六月的国土安全公告将使用边境壁资金进行“环境修复，洪水控制和清理项目，但对于西南边境沿线的任何障碍系统的任何实际构建都不是一分钱。”18luck官网

争议的资金

At issue is whether funds spent on federal environmental requirements are considered money spent on the border wall.

In a recent report, the US Government Accountability Office said that Homeland Security must comply with environmental, procurement and other statutory prerequisites for border wall projects, Those had been waived by department officials in the Trump Administration to push projects ahead.

Landowners, environmental groups and agencies have pointed to damage, severe in some cases, that was caused by wall construction.

“DHS explains that construction work is suspended so that it can take steps necessary to comply with statutory requirements under environmental laws and for stakeholder consultation,” the GAO report said.

对于由先前拨款资金资助的现18luck官网有项目，国土安全部将进行标准的环境计划研究，包括根据上届政府放弃的《国家环境政策法》规定的规划研究。

“This process will include remediating or mitigating environmental damage caused by construction, to the extent possible,” GAO said.

陆军工程兵团发言人说，该机构未授予新的合同来修复边境洪水堤防系统中的违规行为，并“根据现有的建筑合同最初授予边境屏障基础设施授予的现有建筑合同”。她说，该军团在得克萨斯州麦卡伦附近的里奥格兰德山谷（Rio Grande Valley）签订了三份合同，用于在得克萨斯州麦克阿伦附近的里奥格兰德山谷（Rio Grande Valley）签订合同，以在合同暂停之前发掘的堤防墙，并与承包商SLSCO Ltd.一起处理约6英里的堤坝下的两份合同；西南山谷建筑在一份合同下处理约7英里，直布罗陀 - 卡德尔合资企业Inrepair，约0.4英里。

"In most cases, a new floodwall is being constructed to meet flood control safety standards, including the installation of a guardrail structure and associated gates on top of the floodwall to prevent persons from falling off or vehicles driving off and sustaining life-threatening injury," said the spokeswoman. "Construction work does not involve expanding the border barrier."

高说，在履行2021款新项目合同的资金之前，DHS必须首先遵守适用的法律。18luck官网

Once those processes are complete, or nearly complete, DHS can finalize designs and begin the contracting process including “full and open competition.” GAO said. “DHS has no legal basis to proceed with contract awards without meeting these legal prerequisites,” the oversight agency said.

DHS will rescope existing construction projects according to NEPA study results, consultation with stakeholders and other environmental investigations, GAO said.

New Spending Parameters

Delays in spending the funds are legitimate, with monies set to be available for “multiple years” before they expire, GAO said.

“我们看不见表明[办公室做事e of Management and Budget] or [Homeland Security] is attempting to override congressional intent that these funds be used for constructing barriers at the southern border,” GAO said.

然而,高建议,国会应该考虑到der requiring the department to submit a timeline detailing the planned uses and timeframes for obligating funds.

The Texas and Missouri AGs' lawsuit claimed that unless Congress cancels the funding, Homeland Security must use it for its appropriated purpose, claiming that the department has no intention to build any additional border wall.

The Biden administration asked Congress to cancel remaining border wall funding and instead appropriate funds for smart border security technology and modernization of land ports of entry, which it said have proven to be more effective in improving safety and security at the border.

The states claim that the Biden administration’s termination of wall construction contracts and its refusal to spend appropriated funds for barriers allow more “illegal aliens” to enter and remain in Missouri and Texas, “resulting in increased costs" to issue them driver’s licenses, provide public education and healthcare, and process and incarcerate them in the states' criminal-justice systems, all unrecoverable costs.

Texas: Building Its Own Walls

德州边境被迫花自己的钱barriers because of the federal wall program's cancellation, the lawsuit says.

The Texas Legislature passed and Gov. Greg Abbott signed in September a bill that allocates $1.8 billion for border security, including $750 million for construction of a border wall. Another $286 million was transferred to that activity from other state programs, and media report that a private fund had collected about $54 million in donations as of September.

Abbott's office had said that barriers were needed for about 733 miles of the state's 1,200-mile border with Mexico.

The state awarded an $11-million wall construction program management contract to a joint venture of Michael Baker International and Huitt-Zollars on Sept. 16 that includes managing budgets, identifying state land for wall construction and finding “willing private landowners to facilitate construction,” according to the request for proposals. Both firms noted previous federal border wall and entrance port experience.

根据德克萨斯设施委员会网站的数据，其他未选择回应的公司是Versar Inc.和De Corp.。

The agency expects on Oct. 28 to award multiple design-build contracts among 11 companies that responded to a solicitation in mid October. The companies will compete for task orders.

Several respondents had executed previous federal wall construction contracts, including Fisher Sand & Gravel; Caddell Construction; Barnard Construction unit BFBC; SLSCO; Posillico Civil Inc.; and Southwest Valley Constructors, a unit of Kiewit Corp.

其他respondents include Anderson Columbia Co. Inc.; Brizo Construction LLC; Orion Industrial Construction LLC; Pulice Construction Inc. and US Trinity Energy Services LLC