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. FER-
GUSON, 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) intro-
duced 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
20:05 Aug 18, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5130.IH
H5130
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Finish It Act’’. 
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) constructing physical barriers along the 
southwest border of the United States has been one 
element of broader efforts to secure that border dur-
ing the administrations of President George W. 
Bush, President Barack Obama, and President Don-
ald Trump; 
(2) President Joe Biden is the first president to 
block efforts to build a physical barrier along the 
southwest border; 
(3) since President Biden cancelled southwest 
border wall construction contracts in April 2021, the 
Department of Defense has spent approximately 
$130,000 per day to store construction materials on 
approximately 20 private sites in Arizona and New 
Mexico; 
(4) under the Biden administration, the De-
partment of Defense has paid at least $25,000,000 
to store border wall construction materials, rather 
than using those materials to continue constructing 
a wall along the southwest border, or fortifying the 
existing wall where necessary; 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
20:05 Aug 18, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5130.IH
H5130
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
(5) the Biden administration has also prevented 
States from using the existing construction materials 
to fortify or build walls along their respective bor-
ders with Mexico; 
(6) the Department of Defense has spent ap-
proximately $300,000,000 on the unused border wall 
construction materials; 
(7) physical barriers along the southwest border 
complicate the persistent efforts of transnational 
criminal organizations to traffic drugs and people 
into the United States, and enable our law enforce-
ment agencies to respond in a more focused manner 
to the crisis at the southwest border; and 
(8) given the severe crisis at the southwest bor-
der, there is no justification for paying private land-
owners to store wall construction materials rather 
than using those materials to secure our border as 
soon as possible. 
SEC. 3. DEPLOYMENT OF EXISTING CONSTRUCTION MATE-
RIALS. 
(a) PLAN.—Not later than 15 days after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall 
submit to Congress a plan to utilize, transfer, or donate 
to States on the southern border of the United States all 
existing excess border wall construction materials, includ-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
20:05 Aug 18, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5130.IH
H5130
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
ing bollards, for the express purpose of constructing a per-
manent physical barrier to stop illicit human and vehicle 
traffic along the border of the United States with Mexico. 
(b) EXECUTION OF PLAN.—Not later than 15 days 
after submitting to Congress the plan required under sub-
section (a), the Secretary shall work with the Defense Lo-
gistics Agency to execute that plan until the Department 
of Defense is no longer incurring any costs to maintain, 
store, or protect the materials specified under subsection 
(a). 
(c) REQUIREMENTS OF REQUESTING STATES.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Any State requesting border 
wall construction materials made available under 
this section must certify, in writing, that the mate-
rials it accepts will be exclusively used for the con-
struction of a permanent physical barrier to stop il-
licit human and vehicle traffic along the border of 
the United States with Mexico. 
(2) PENALTIES.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—If, by the date that is 
two years after receipt of materials accepted 
under this section, a State does not use all such 
materials for the construction of a permanent 
physical barrier to stop illicit human and vehi-
cle traffic along the border of the United States 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
20:05 Aug 18, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5130.IH
H5130
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
with Mexico, the State shall pay to the United 
States Government an amount equal to the 
original purchase price of the materials that 
have not been used for such purpose. 
(B) NO WAIVER.—The penalty under sub-
paragraph (A) may not be waived. 
(d) IMPACT OF DELAY.—If the Secretary of Defense 
delays in submitting the plan required under subsection 
(a) or executing that plan as required under subsection 
(b), the travel budget of the Under Secretary of Defense 
for Policy shall be decreased by one percent for every two 
days of delay. 
SEC. 4. REPORT. 
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit 
to Congress a report containing the following: 
(1) Any internal correspondence of the Depart-
ment of Defense that informed the decision to forgo 
the excess property disposal process of the Depart-
ment of Defense and instead pay $130,000 per day 
to store border wall panels. 
(2) A list of the individuals and entities the De-
partment is paying for use of their privately owned 
land to store unused border wall construction mate-
rials. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
20:05 Aug 18, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5130.IH
H5130
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
(3) An explanation of the process through 
which the Department contracted with private land-
owners to store unused border wall construction ma-
terials, including whether there was a competitive 
contracting process and whether the landowners 
have instituted an inventory review system. 
(4) A description of any investigations by the 
Inspector General of the Department that have been 
opened to examine the wasteful policy of paying to 
store border wall construction materials rather than 
using those materials to continue building or for-
tifying the wall on the southwest border of the 
United States. 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
20:05 Aug 18, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H5130.IH
H5130
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB