I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1477 

To prohibit the use of Federal funds to build a wall along the southern 

border, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 9, 2017 

Ms. MOORE (for herself, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. JEFFRIES, 

Mr. SOTO, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Ms. MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM of New 

Mexico, Mr. POCAN, Mr. FOSTER, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Mr. 

VELA, Mrs. TORRES, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. RUSH, Ms. CLARKE of New 

York, Mr. POLIS, Mr. GUTIE ́RREZ, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. SA ́NCHEZ, Ms. 

BROWNLEY of California, Ms. LEE, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. TAKANO, 

Ms. BASS, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. CLEAVER, Ms. SPEIER, and 

Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security, and in addition to the 

Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To prohibit the use of Federal funds to build a wall along 

the southern border, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No Taxpayer Funding 

5 for the Wall Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) The construction of a wall along the south4 ern border is estimated to cost tens of billions of 

5 taxpayer dollars. 

6 (2) On June 16, 2015, in New York, NY, while 

7 announcing his candidacy for President of the 

8 United States, Mr. Donald Trump stated ‘‘I would 

9 build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better 

10 than me, believe me, and I’ll build them very inex11 pensively. I will build a great, great wall on our 

12 southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that 

13 wall. Mark my words.’’. 

14 (3) On July 31, 2015 in Turnberry, Scotland, 

15 during an interview on CNN, Mr. Donald Trump 

16 stated ‘‘I will build the wall and Mexico’s going to 

17 pay for it and they will be happy to pay for it. Be18 cause Mexico is making so much money from the 

19 United States that that’s going to be peanuts and all 

20 these other characters say, ‘Oh, they won’t pay, they 

21 won’t pay.’ They don’t know the first thing about 

22 how to negotiate. Trust me, Mexico will pay for it.’’. 

23 (4) On February 25, 2016, in Houston, TX, 

24 during a Republican Presidential Debate, Mr. Don25 ald Trump stated, ‘‘We have a trade deficit with 

26 Mexico of $58 billion dollars a year, and that doesn’t 


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1 include all the drugs that are pouring across and de2 stroying our country. We’re going to make them pay 

3 for that wall.’’. 

4 (5) On August 23, 2015, during an interview 

5 on Justice with Judge Jeanine, Mr. Donald Trump 

6 stated, ‘‘We’re going to build a wall. It’s going to be 

7 a great wall. Mexico is going to pay for it.’’. 

8 (6) On August 31, 2016, in Phoenix, AZ, dur9 ing a rally, Mr. Donald Trump stated, ‘‘We will 

10 build a great wall along the southern border and 

11 Mexico will pay for the wall. One hundred percent. 

12 They don’t know it yet, but they’re going to pay for 

13 the wall.’’. 

14 (7) On January 10, 2017, General John Kelly, 

15 President-elect Trump’s nominee for Secretary of 

16 Homeland Security, stated during his Senate con17 firmation hearing, ‘‘A physical barrier in and of 

18 itself—certainly as a military person that under19 stands defense and defenses—a physical barrier in 

20 and of itself will not do the job, it has to be really 

21 a layered defense.’’. 

22 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON USE OF CERTAIN FEDERAL 

23 FUNDS. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.— 


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1 (1) FEDERAL PROHIBITION.—Notwithstanding 

2 any other provision of law, no Federal department 

3 or agency, including the Department of Homeland 

4 Security, may obligate or expend any Federal funds 

5 (including any funds previously appropriated for 

6 such purpose or any fee revenue generated by the 

7 Department of Homeland Security or any other Fed8 eral department or agency) to carry out section 102 

9 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant 

10 Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1103 note) or 

11 any other related provision of law, or to otherwise 

12 build a border fence, related physical barriers or in13 frastructure, or wall along the southern border of 

14 the United States, including to carry out any activi15 ties related to such construction. 

16 (2) STATE PROHIBITION.—Notwithstanding any 

17 other provision of law, a State that has received or 

18 receives any Federal funding in the form of a grant 

19 from the Department of Homeland Security or any 

20 other Federal department or agency may not use 

21 such funding to carry out section 102 of the Illegal 

22 Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility 

23 Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1103 note) or any other re24 lated provision of law, or to otherwise build a border 

25 fence, related physical barriers or infrastructure, or 


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1 wall along the southern border of the United States, 

2 including to carry out any activities related to such 

3 construction. 

4 (3) FOREIGN PAYMENT REQUIRED.—The Presi5 dent is authorized to enter into a binding, written, 

6 and enforceable treaty, approved by the Senate, with 

7 a foreign country to pay for the costs associated 

8 with carrying out section 102 of the Illegal Immigra9 tion Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 

10 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1103 note) or any other related pro11 vision of law, or otherwise building a border fence, 

12 related physical barriers or infrastructure, or wall 

13 along the southern border of the United States, in14 cluding carrying out any activities related to such 

15 construction. 

16 (b) AUDIT AND PENALTY.— 

17 (1) AUDIT.—Not later than 180 days after the 

18 end of each fiscal year, the Comptroller General of 

19 the United States shall conduct an audit of each 

20 Federal department and agency under subsection 

21 (a)(1) and each State that has received or is receiv22 ing any Federal funding under subsection (a)(2) to 

23 assess compliance with the prohibition under such 

24 subsections for such preceding fiscal year. 


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1 (2) PENALTY.—If the Comptroller General of 

2 the United States is unable to confirm the compli3 ance with the prohibitions under subsection (a) by a 

4 Federal department or agency or by a State pursu5 ant to an audit conducted under paragraph (1), not6 withstanding any other provision of law— 

7 (A) in the case of Federal department or 

8 agency, the Office of Management and Budget 

9 may not obligate or expend more than 25 per10 cent of funds authorized to be appropriated for 

11 such Office for the fiscal year during which 

12 such audit is conducted, until such time as the 

13 Comptroller General is able to confirm such 

14 compliance; and 

15 (B) in the case of a State, the heads of ap16 propriate Federal departments and agencies 

17 shall take such steps as may be necessary to re18 duce the amount of Federal funds that are 

19 made available to such State and to require 

20 such State to repay such amounts previously 

21 made available, as appropriate, until such time 

22 as the Comptroller General is able to confirm 

23 such compliance. 

24 (c) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con25 gress that the funding prohibition under this section 


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1 should not interfere with the responsibility of the Sec2 retary of Homeland Security to take actions as may be 

3 required to secure the southern border of the United 

4 States. 

5 SEC. 4. OVERSIGHT. 

6 The Inspector General of the Federal department or 

7 agency responsible for carrying out the treaty referred to 

8 in section 3(a)(3) shall oversee the use of funds received 

9 and expended pursuant to such treaty to carry out the 

10 Secure Fence Act of 2006, section 102 of the Illegal Immi11 gration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 

12 (8 U.S.C. 1103 note), or any other related provision of 

13 law, or to otherwise build a border fence, related physical 

14 barriers or infrastructure, or wall along the southern bor15 der of the United States, including to carry out any activi16 ties related to such construction. Such oversight shall in17 clude oversight regarding the use of high risk contractor 

18 practices, including limited or sole source contracting, any 

19 cost overruns, significant delays in contract execution, and 

20 departmental contract management and oversight of such 

21 funds. 

22 SEC. 5. BUDGETARY IMPACT. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office of 

24 Management and Budget shall include a statement of 

25 budgetary impact, including costs, benefits, and revenues, 


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1 as a result of and related to any executive order or presi2 dential memorandum issued relating to border security 

3 during the period of fiscal year 2017 through fiscal year 

4 2021. 

5 (b) CONTENTS.—Any statement under subsection (a) 

6 shall include— 

7 (1) a narrative summary of the budgetary im8 pact of such order or memorandum on the Federal 

9 Government; 

10 (2) the impact on mandatory and discretionary 

11 obligations and outlays as the result of such order 

12 or memorandum, listed by Federal department and 

13 agency, for each year in the 5-fiscal-year period be14 ginning in fiscal year 2017; and 

15 (3) the impact on revenues of the Federal Gov16 ernment as the result of such order or memorandum 

17 over the 5-fiscal-year period beginning in fiscal year 

18 2017. 

19 SEC. 6. WEBSITE. 

20 The Director of the Office of Management and Budg21 et shall establish a publicly available website to track and 

22 display funds received from other non-Federal sources, in23 cluding foreign governments, to carry out the Secure 

24 Fence Act of 2006, section 102 of the Illegal Immigration 

25 Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 


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1 U.S.C. 1103 note), or any other related provision of law, 

2 or to otherwise build a border fence, related physical bar3 riers or infrastructure, or wall along the southern border, 

4 including to carry out any activities related to such con5 struction. Such website shall be updated at least monthly 

6 to accurately reflect data on funds received by source and 

7 by date and on the obligation and expenditure of such 

8 funds. 

Æ 


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