BISMARCK – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) led a letter this week with Senators John Kennedy (R-LA) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) to Office of Management and Budget Director (OMB) Director Mick Mulvaney and OMB Federal Procurement Policy Administrator Michael Wooten requesting information about the status of President Donald Trump’s efforts to build physical barriers along the southern border.

“Our government is working with limited resources, and each dollar wasted on incompetent contracting procedures is a dollar that is not being used to build more wall and secure our border,” the Senators wrote. “In order to ensure the American people receive the security they were promised, we must continue to fight for funding and provide oversight to the contracting process.”

In this letter, the Senators asked these three questions:

  1. What is the current acquisition and construction status of efforts to replace or build new barriers along the southern border? 
  2. What is the current mile-per-day rate of construction, and will this rate meet the President’s goal of 450 miles by 2020?
  3. What changes has the Office of Federal Procurement Policy made to ensure that the Army Corps’ procurement process gets the taxpayer the best possible product at the lowest possible price?

Click here to read the full letter.

Since President Trump issued his national emergency declaration, Senator Cramer has used his seats on the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee to exercise his Constitutional right to oversight in order ensure the wall is built on time and under budget. This has included a visit to the southern border, discussions with multiple high-level officials involved in the wall-building process, and in-depth reviews of contracting documents related to the procurement of the border wall.

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