No violation found in border wall’s halt

President Joe Biden’s suspension of border wall construction does not violate congressional spending rules, the Government Accountability Office said Tuesday, a decision that rejects Republican claims the administration is legally obligated to resume building the barrier.

Biden ordered a halt to his predecessor’s signature project in January, and last month his administration said that it would return $2 billion in border wall funds to the Defense Department. The administration also said that it would use an additional $1.9 billion in congressionally appropriated Department of Homeland Security money to prioritize environmental restoration and site cleanup, rather than adding more steel and concrete.

The Government Accountability Office, the nonpartisan oversight arm of Congress, said the Biden administration’s moves amounted to a “programmatic delay,” rather than an impoundment of funds that would violate appropriation laws.

“[The Department of Homeland Security] and the Office of Management and Budget have shown that the use of funds is delayed in order to perform environmental reviews and consult with various stakeholders, as required by law, and determine project funding needs in light of changes that warrant using funds differently than initially planned,” the accountability office found.

The agency drew a distinction between Biden’s pause and President Donald Trump’s suspension of security aid to Ukraine in 2019, a move at the center of his impeachment trial last year.

Abdullah Hasan, a spokesman for the budget office, said in a statement that Biden’s border wall proclamation in January “directed Federal agencies to comply with appropriations law at every step.”