Tax Payers pay 6 Million dollars a day for bungled pause of border wall

[BobRyan]

Just PART of the high cost of bungling --

from: EXCLUSIVE: Biden Spending Millions per Day to Halt Border Wall Construction

Mar 21, 2021

"The pause on construction of the border wall costs taxpayers about six million dollars per day while construction sites sit idle, Breitbart Texas learned from a senior Department of Homeland Security official. On Sunday, March 21, the 60-day pause in construction of the border wall is scheduled to end."

According to the source, the expenditures are required for materials orders placed before the pause and expenses for the cost of equipment sitting idle. When the issuance of a stop work order causes a contractor to idle equipment, they are entitled to be compensated for rental expenses or costs of ownership."

Shortly after taking office, President Biden signed an executive order temporarily halting any further progress on the border wall so individual contracts could be evaluated. With the exception of “make-safe” activities at the worksites, construction projects immediately came to a standstill, Breitbart Texas reported. The end of the 60-day pause does not, however, signal an automatic restart of construction."

Early in the pause, a spokesperson for the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) informed Breitbart Texas that contractors would be informed of a final decision sometime after the 60-day pause concludes. The time was to be used for evaluating each contract to reach a decision to terminate-for-cause or continue."
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Having "no plan" when stopping a working solution, then paying 6 million a day for such a "brilliant" idea while waiting to think something up - would be called incompetence if it was corporate business.

Good thing it is "only" politics , and the security and safety of America, as well as exposing non-Citizens to victimization by crime organizations outside the U.S.

 

[Fantine]

The real shame is that some of the money for the border wall was taken from our military budget, so on a sense it was already diverted from an important priority to an unnecessary pork barrel project.

 

[disciple Clint]

The real shame is that some of the money for the border wall was taken from our military budget, so on a sense it was already diverted from an important priority to an unnecessary pork barrel project.

Have you seen what is going on at the border?

 

[BobRyan]

The real shame is that some of the money for the border wall was taken from our military budget, so on a sense it was already diverted from an important priority to an unnecessary pork barrel project.

until you talk to border agents. Turns out that protecting America is a big deal whether on the border or "elsewhere"

Border Patrol Agents, the Only True Experts, Lament Wall Construction Halt

Dramatic video shows dozens of migrants shoving their way through a hole in California border fence | Daily Mail Online

Katko: Some migrants entering US at southern border are on terror watch list

 

[The Barbarian]

Shortly after taking office, President Biden signed an executive order temporarily halting any further progress on the border wall so individual contracts could be evaluated. With the exception of “make-safe” activities at the worksites, construction projects immediately came to a standstill, Breitbart Texas reported. The end of the 60-day pause does not, however, signal an automatic restart of construction."

People who are upset about this, are engaging in a logical fallacy called the "sunk-cost fallacy."

The sunk-cost fallacy describes our tendency to throw good money after bad. Just because you've already spent money on something doesn't mean you should continue spending money on it. Sometimes the opposite is true. Psychologically, the more you spend on something, the less you're willing to let it go.
The sunk-cost fallacy: Throwing good money after bad

Whatever money Biden can salvage and give back to the Department of Defense, from where Trump took it after Congress refused to fund his vanity wall project, it's a good thing.

 

[BobRyan]

BobRyan said: ↑
Shortly after taking office, President Biden signed an executive order temporarily halting any further progress on the border wall so individual contracts could be evaluated. With the exception of “make-safe” activities at the worksites, construction projects immediately came to a standstill, Breitbart Texas reported. The end of the 60-day pause does not, however, signal an automatic restart of construction."

People who are upset about this, are engaging in a logical fallacy called the "sunk-cost fallacy."

The sunk-cost fallacy describes our tendency to throw good money after bad.

That would require calling "Border Security and lower illegal activity at the border" --- "bad".

A lot of Americans are not willing to call that "bad".

A view of reality at the southern border includes

It's "Not Going to Stop, Ever:" Illegal Immigrant Boasts at Border as El Paso Sees Incredible 96% Increase in Unaccompanied Minor Crossings

“Currently, we are experiencing a high number of encounters in the West Texas/New Mexico region. These encounters include families and unaccompanied children,” CBP Chief Gloria Chavez of the El Paso Sector told Fox News in a statement on the current situation there. “The highest population for the El Paso Sector is unaccompanied children with a 96% increase compared to February” 2020, year-to-date.

Border agents have encountered more than 3,300 undocumented, unaccompanied children in the El Paso region this fiscal year. There has been a 64% nationwide increase in the number of migrant children coming into the U.S., Fox 40 Sacramento reported.

There were 30,077 border apprehensions in February 2020. In February this year, CBP encountered 100,441 migrants at the southern border — a 28% increase compared to January 2021 — and carried out 72,113 expulsions. The number of encounters at the border has been increasing since April 2020, according to CBP.

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Signalling the people south of the border that in 2021 illegal activity would be subsidized and encouraged by what Mexico is now calling "The Migration President" 's policies -- did not "help". The idea that having lower numbers for illegal activity at the boarder in the past "was bad" and adding funding to maintain the lower numbers of illegal activity at the boarder "is bad", is getting to be a much more difficult sales pitch than it used to be.

 

[The Barbarian]

(regarding building more useless "walls" which are actually fences already starting to fall over)
People who are upset about this, are engaging in a logical fallacy called the "sunk-cost fallacy."

The sunk-cost fallacy describes our tendency to throw good money after bad.

That would require calling "Border Security and lower illegal activity at the border" --- "bad".

As you have seen, the fences, which almost entirely were in places already fenced off, were completely unable to stop anything. Trump already knew this; his own people were telling him that it wouldn't work. It was just money tossed down a rat hole; one of the contractors was just a Trump supporter who had no idea what he was doing. The fences weren't so good...

To be fair, the wind was over 35mph when the wall failed.

A lot of Americans are not willing to call that "bad".

I don't think there's any way to call that cobbled-together mess "good." So, in the absence of any real border security upgrades, Biden's having to re-invent a decent border security policy.

 

[BobRyan]

As you have seen, the fences, which almost entirely were in places already fenced off, were completely unable to stop anything.

not according to the record of illegal crossings and the report from border agents, and videos etc. The vast majority of crossings are not over the wall but around it - in the gaps.

 

[The Barbarian]

not according to the record of illegal crossings and the report from border agents, and videos etc.

While Trump didn't add very much wall for all the billions he spent, there was some addition wall (really fence) put up. So your argument is that illegal border crossings are now down from where they were when Trump took office? You do realize that they are very much up, right? So much for the wall.

The vast majority of crossings are not over the wall but around it - in the gaps.

That does happen, but the fact is, many illegal immigrants now come in legally, by airlines,buses and so on:

The border wall is said to be costing about $30 million per mile in Southern Texas, and is proving to be the largest federal infrastructure project in American history. It is a fact however, that the wall may function to keep some illegal immigrants from entering the US, but not all. According to Randy Capps, director of research for U.S. Programs at the Migration Policy Institute only one-third of unauthorized immigrants come to the US by sneaking across the border.
10 Little Known Facts About Illegal Immigration To The US

Trump was spending billions on a Maginot Line that was, as you see by recent events, easily circumvented, and doesn't even address the major source of illegal immigrants.