The Biden administration is auctioning off components intended for the construction of a border wall proposed by former President Trump. The portions are being sold individually, including a number of tubes intended for the construction.
According to the Daily Caller, the White House has been selling the materials since April.
The Pentagon said that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers “is disposing of the excess border wall materials in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation.”
The proceeds from the sales are being sent to the Pentagon with the beams selling for more than $150,000 on Tuesday. In total, 81 lots of the “square structural tubes” have been sold, totaling about $2 million.
The sales come despite a bill passed in the Senate that called upon President Joe Biden to extend the existing sections of the border wall.
Republican lawmakers stated that the administration allowed up to $300 million of wall components to rust since the start of the Biden administration.
According to the Finish It Act, the administration would be compelled to use the materials to build the wall or turn them over to border states. However, it has not yet been passed by the House and would be unlikely to be signed by the president.
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), who sponsored the bill, said that the sale of materials was a “wasteful and ludicrous decision by the Biden administration that only serves as further proof they have no shame.”
2006: Senator Biden supports 700 miles of border wall because "tons of methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin are all coming up through corrupt Mexico."
2023: President Biden sells the border wall amid the worst illegal immigration and drug overdose crisis in American history. pic.twitter.com/vg0v0U5d4r
— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) August 20, 2023
Wicker further called the sales “outrageous behind-the-scenes maneuvering.”
The move was also criticized by co-sponsor Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), who said that the administration was leaving the “border open to terrorists while selling border security materials,” calling it “Bidenomics in a nutshell.”
Sen. James Lankford (R-OH) also said that the White House was bringing in “pennies” in selling off the construction materials and that the money raised “will not be enough to pay the families who suffer from a criminal act committed by someone who crossed our open borders during the Biden administration.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) also called the move “reckless.”
