I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5130 

To require the Secretary of Defense to use, transfer, or donate all excess 

construction materials intended for the wall on the southwest border 

of the United States that are being stored by the Department of Defense, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 1, 2023 

Mr. STRONG (for himself, Mr. MOYLAN, Mr. BERGMAN, Mr. WITTMAN, Ms. 

STEFANIK, Mr. EZELL, Mrs. MILLER of Illinois, Mr. NORMAN, Mrs. 

KIGGANS of Virginia, Mr. MCCORMICK, Mr. CARL, Mr. RUTHERFORD, 

Mr. MOORE of Alabama, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. KELLY of Mississippi, 

Mr. GROTHMAN, Mr. ADERHOLT, Mrs. LESKO, Mr. JACKSON of Texas, 

Mr. LUTTRELL, Mr. BABIN, Mr. SELF, Mr. FINSTAD, Mr. 

FLEISCHMANN, Mr. PALMER, Mr. GIMENEZ, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. FERGUSON, Mr. OWENS, Mr. HUIZENGA, Mr. CARTER of Georgia, Mr. 

BRECHEEN, Mr. BACON, Mr. MILLS, Mr. YAKYM, Mr. BEAN of Florida, 

Mr. OBERNOLTE, Mr. DESJARLAIS, Mr. FRY, and Mr. GOSAR) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed 

Services 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Defense to use, transfer, or 

donate all excess construction materials intended for the 

wall on the southwest border of the United States that 

are being stored by the Department of Defense, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Finish It Act’’. 

3 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

4 It is the sense of Congress that— 

5 (1) constructing physical barriers along the 

6 southwest border of the United States has been one 

7 element of broader efforts to secure that border dur8 ing the administrations of President George W. 

9 Bush, President Barack Obama, and President Don10 ald Trump; 

11 (2) President Joe Biden is the first president to 

12 block efforts to build a physical barrier along the 

13 southwest border; 

14 (3) since President Biden cancelled southwest 

15 border wall construction contracts in April 2021, the 

16 Department of Defense has spent approximately 

17 $130,000 per day to store construction materials on 

18 approximately 20 private sites in Arizona and New 

19 Mexico; 

20 (4) under the Biden administration, the De21 partment of Defense has paid at least $25,000,000 

22 to store border wall construction materials, rather 

23 than using those materials to continue constructing 

24 a wall along the southwest border, or fortifying the 

25 existing wall where necessary; 


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1 (5) the Biden administration has also prevented 

2 States from using the existing construction materials 

3 to fortify or build walls along their respective bor4 ders with Mexico; 

5 (6) the Department of Defense has spent ap6 proximately $300,000,000 on the unused border wall 

7 construction materials; 

8 (7) physical barriers along the southwest border 

9 complicate the persistent efforts of transnational 

10 criminal organizations to traffic drugs and people 

11 into the United States, and enable our law enforce12 ment agencies to respond in a more focused manner 

13 to the crisis at the southwest border; and 

14 (8) given the severe crisis at the southwest bor15 der, there is no justification for paying private land16 owners to store wall construction materials rather 

17 than using those materials to secure our border as 

18 soon as possible. 

19 SEC. 3. DEPLOYMENT OF EXISTING CONSTRUCTION MATE20 RIALS. 

21 (a) PLAN.—Not later than 15 days after the date of 

22 the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall 

23 submit to Congress a plan to utilize, transfer, or donate 

24 to States on the southern border of the United States all 

25 existing excess border wall construction materials, includVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:05 Aug 18, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5130.IH H5130

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1 ing bollards, for the express purpose of constructing a per2 manent physical barrier to stop illicit human and vehicle 

3 traffic along the border of the United States with Mexico. 

4 (b) EXECUTION OF PLAN.—Not later than 15 days 

5 after submitting to Congress the plan required under sub6 section (a), the Secretary shall work with the Defense Lo7 gistics Agency to execute that plan until the Department 

8 of Defense is no longer incurring any costs to maintain, 

9 store, or protect the materials specified under subsection 

10 (a). 

11 (c) REQUIREMENTS OF REQUESTING STATES.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Any State requesting border 

13 wall construction materials made available under 

14 this section must certify, in writing, that the mate15 rials it accepts will be exclusively used for the con16 struction of a permanent physical barrier to stop il17 licit human and vehicle traffic along the border of 

18 the United States with Mexico. 

19 (2) PENALTIES.— 

20 (A) IN GENERAL.—If, by the date that is 

21 two years after receipt of materials accepted 

22 under this section, a State does not use all such 

23 materials for the construction of a permanent 

24 physical barrier to stop illicit human and vehi25 cle traffic along the border of the United States 


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1 with Mexico, the State shall pay to the United 

2 States Government an amount equal to the 

3 original purchase price of the materials that 

4 have not been used for such purpose. 

5 (B) NO WAIVER.—The penalty under sub6 paragraph (A) may not be waived. 

7 (d) IMPACT OF DELAY.—If the Secretary of Defense 

8 delays in submitting the plan required under subsection 

9 (a) or executing that plan as required under subsection 

10 (b), the travel budget of the Under Secretary of Defense 

11 for Policy shall be decreased by one percent for every two 

12 days of delay. 

13 SEC. 4. REPORT. 

14 Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact15 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit 

16 to Congress a report containing the following: 

17 (1) Any internal correspondence of the Depart18 ment of Defense that informed the decision to forgo 

19 the excess property disposal process of the Depart20 ment of Defense and instead pay $130,000 per day 

21 to store border wall panels. 

22 (2) A list of the individuals and entities the De23 partment is paying for use of their privately owned 

24 land to store unused border wall construction mate25 rials. 


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1 (3) An explanation of the process through 

2 which the Department contracted with private land3 owners to store unused border wall construction ma4 terials, including whether there was a competitive 

5 contracting process and whether the landowners 

6 have instituted an inventory review system. 

7 (4) A description of any investigations by the 

8 Inspector General of the Department that have been 

9 opened to examine the wasteful policy of paying to 

10 store border wall construction materials rather than 

11 using those materials to continue building or for12 tifying the wall on the southwest border of the 

13 United States. 

Æ 


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