The Defense Department revealed Tuesday that it has more than 20,000 unused border wall panels in storage that it is trying to dispose of after President Biden halted construction.
The Army Corps of Engineers pays $160,000 a month just to store the panels, Col. Jason Jefferis told the House Homeland Security Committee.
He said that is in addition to fiber optic cables, lighting and other materials that were supposed to be part of the wall system and which, like the panels, were abandoned by Mr. Biden’s directive.
He said the materials are sitting with contractors and officials are trying to figure out what to do with it all.
“The government validates that inventory and then reviews it to determine whether it is reusable or must be thrown to scrap,” Col. Jefferis said.
Neither he nor an acting deputy executive assistant commissioner at Customs and Border Protection were able to say just how much material the government has lost to scrap thanks to the construction halt.
The $160,000 a month covers storage of 20,822 wall panels.
That’s a big improvement over two years ago, when there was even more material and the Defense Department figured it would cost $130,000 a day to store it all.
The wall was the most visible of President Trump’s 2016 campaign promises.
During his tenure, more than 450 miles of panels were erected, most of it upgrading outdated or deteriorated fencing built during the Bush and Obama years.
But the Trump team skimped on the rest of the wall system — the lights, sensors and roadways — to meet the president’s wall construction goals. The Government Accountability Office said less than 69 miles, or about 15% of the construction under Mr. Trump, were fully completed.
Mr. Biden, during the 2020 campaign, said he wouldn’t allow another foot of wall to be constructed, and while he’s had to eat those words, he has generally blocked the Trump plans to build some 200 more miles of barriers.
House Republicans have included language to restart wall construction in their proposed spending bill for fiscal 2024, which starts Oct. 1.
Democrats during Tuesday’s hearing complained about the GOP’s focus on a wall.
“It seems a bit antiquated at this stage, given where we are with respect to technology,” said Rep. Yvette D. Clarke, New York Democrat.
“And besides, I thought Mexico was supposed to pay for it,” she added, citing then-President Trump’s unfulfilled vow to make America’s southern neighbor pony up for the cost.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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