Patriotic US Company Offers To Build 234 Miles of Border Wall For $1.4 Billion

Fact checked
March 6, 2019 Baxter Dmitry News, US 0
A patriotic U.S. company has stepped up to the plate and is offering to build 234 miles of President Trump's border wall for just $1.4 billion, a fraction of the $8 billion the Trump administration was expecting to spend on that project.

A patriotic U.S. company has stepped up to the plate and is offering to build 234 miles of President Trump’s border wall for just $1.4 billion, a fraction of the $8 billion the Trump administration was expecting to spend on that project.

Fisher Sand and Gravel Company’s President and CEO Tommy Fisher said the government is overpaying and that for $4.31 billion, he can build the wall and incorporate paved roads and border technology plus warranty.

“Our whole point is to break through the government bureaucracy,” Fisher told the Washington Examiner. “If they do the small procurements as they are now … that’s not going to cut it.”

Washington Examiner reports: Of the $8 billion Trump is hoping to spend, he already has $1.375 billion of that amount from Congress, which can only be used to build fencing in the Rio Grande Valley. Trump is seeking to repurpose another $3.1 billion in defense funding for more border wall and $3.6 billion more through his emergency declaration that Congress and the courts will challenge.

Fisher said that the roughly $1.4 billion is enough to build 20 miles of levee wall in the Rio Grande Valley, plus another 214 miles. That pot of money, however, can only be used in the Rio Grande Valley, according to the bill Congress passed approving those funds and was only expected to be used for about 55 miles of steel slat fencing.

The Army Corps of Engineers is not ready to start looking at how to spend the $8 billion that Trump is hoping to spend on the wall, a representative told the Washington Examiner last week. The corps is considering how to spend money Congress gave DHS last fiscal year and has not requested bids from the private sector because it’s still in the procurement process.

Replacement and new wall projects have struggled to get underway in Trump’s first two years in office. Just 35 miles of wall have gone up in that time. The Army Corps of Engineers has procured around 75 miles but has not awarded $900 million for the project of the $1.35 billion that was in the 2018 omnibus.

DHS officials and several lawmakers are expected to visit the site of his border wall construction site in Arizona next week.

Baxter Dmitry

Baxter Dmitry

Baxter Dmitry is a writer at News Punch. He covers politics, business and entertainment. Speaking truth to power since he learned to talk, Baxter has travelled in over 80 countries and won arguments in every single one. Live without fear.
Email: baxter@newspunch.com
Baxter Dmitry

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