Thread: TRUMP ADMIN PUSHES BACK ON REPORT CLAIMING THEY’VE BUILT LESS THAN 2 MILES OF WALL

TRUMP ADMIN PUSHES BACK ON REPORT CLAIMING THEY’VE BUILT LESS THAN 2 MILES OF WALL

4:15 PM 05/22/2019 | POLITICSAmber Athey | White House Correspondent


The Trump administration is disputing a new report that claims they’ve built less than 2 miles of border wall with nearly $2 billion in funding.
Bloomberg reported Wednesday that the U.S. government has managed to erect just 1.7 miles of bollard fencing with the $1.57 billion appropriated by Congress for wall construction in FY18. The figure came from a court filing by a lawyer for the U.S. House of Representatives and made its way onto the Drudge Report.
However, members of the administration say the report fails to fully capture the wall construction that is taking place at the southern border.

A Customs and Border protection vehicle passes by US President Donald Trump’s wall prototypes, as seen from behind the Mexico-US border fence in Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico on December 12, 2018. (Photo by GUILLERMO ARIAS/AFP/Getty Images)

“The Bloomberg article is wrong,” a senior administration official told The Daily Caller. “The 1.7 miles are part of a 14-mile project specific to the San Diego Sector at a cost of $131 million (FY18 dollars). There are currently over 120 miles of new or replacement wall being constructed, and to say only 1.7 miles is completely false and misleading.”
The official also claimed that all wall construction projects are currently on pace when compared to the timelines of other government construction projects. Acting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kevin McAleenan said during a Fox News interview in April that the administration is actually moving “aggressively” on wall construction.
“So normally for a federal project of this scope, from the time you get funded to starting, it’s over two years,” McAleenan said. “We’ve already built the [fiscal year] 2017 funding in less than two years. That shows how aggressively we’re moving out on this.”
The Bloomberg article’s headline, “U.S. federal wall funding of US$1.57B yields 1.7 miles of fence,” suggests that it cost nearly $2 billion to build under 2 miles of fence. That is not accurate, and the article itself makes clear that the funding number merely refers to what Congress appropriated for a number of projects last year.
According to a public release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the $1.375 billion appropriated in 2018 will be used to build approximately 80 miles of “updated and new” border wall.
The 14-mile San Diego project commenced in February 2019 and is on pace to be completed in early 2020.
The same chunk of funding will also go toward various other construction projects. Construction “activities” have started for 13 miles of new border wall in the Rio Grande Valley. Contracts have been awarded for the construction of 41 miles of new wall in San Diego and Calexico, California, and Yuma, Arizona, and the construction is expected to be completed in late 2020.
“An additional 12 miles of new border wall system in the RGV Sector is set for award by December 31, 2019,” CBP says.
An administration official told the Caller in March that approximately 74 miles of new or replacement wall was either completed or in progress with FY2018 funding.
While the actual construction with FY18 funding started relatively recently, the construction of new and replacement wall with FY17 funding is nearly complete.
The $292 million appropriated in FY17 was intended for 40 miles of new or replacement wall, and 39.5 miles have already been built in “the highest-priority locations,” such as San Diego and El Paso, Texas. The remaining half-mile is expected to be completed by June.
Using the entire $6.1 billion in funding that Trump has obtained through congressional appropriation and executive action from 2017 to 2019, CBP says there will be 86 miles of new primary wall and 24 miles of new levee wall built. They also expect to build approximately 158 miles of updated vehicle wall and updated secondary wall.
President Donald Trump appeared to take issue with the framing of the Bloomberg report, clarifying in tweets Wednesday that much of the wall construction consists of knocking down outdated and ineffective barriers and replacing them. The president and the media routinely spar over whether such projects constitute “new” wall.
“Much of the Wall being built at the Southern border is a complete demolition and rebuilding of old and worthless barriers,” Trump wrote. “Problem is, the Haters say that is not a new wall, but rather a renovation.”
According to CBP, 300 miles of the existing so-called “wall” on the border are actually vehicle barriers. The barriers are incapable of stopping foot traffic to any reasonable degree, thus the administration believes erecting bollard fencing in those areas should be considered “new” construction.
VEHICLE BARRIER:

CALEXICO, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 26: The remains of a vehicle rest on the ground near a barrier which runs along the border of the United States and Mexico on January 26, 2019 near Calexico, California. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders agreed in an interview on Fox News that the Bloomberg article contained an “incorrect figure.”
“We’re still on track to get close to 500 miles built by the end of the year. The Army Corps of Engineers working with DHS and DOD are putting a tremendous amount of effort into not just building a new wall, but taking down some of the barriers that have existed that are completely ineffective, and putting in the very effective border wall they have been putting in the last couple months,” Sanders said.
The Caller previously reported in March that Trump has secured funding for more than half of the border wall. At the time, 111 miles of new or replacement wall were being built or in progress. (RELATED: Trump Has Secured Funding For More Than Half Of Border Wall)
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https://dailycaller.com/2019/05/22/t...g-border-wall/

DHS Keeps Mileage of Newly Built Border Wall a Mystery

483

File Photo: PEDRO PARDO/AFP/Getty ImagesJOHN BINDER22 May 2019

3,208

3:18

The total mileage of new border wall constructed on land that did not previously have a barrier built on it at the United States-Mexico border remains unknown, as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has kept the number a mystery.

For months, the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency has touted the construction of a “new border wall system” at the southern border, citing that 38 miles as of March 21 have been built along the nearly 2,000-mile long border.
In a statement provided to Breitbart News two months ago, a CBP spokesperson said the 38 miles of newly constructed wall system “provides new capability by replacing ineffective or dilapidated infrastructure, such as Normandy-style barriers designed only to stop vehicles, not people on foot.”
CBP officials also said that the 38 miles of border wall system is part of a 115-mile wall construction project using money from the Fiscal Years 2017 and 2018.
DHS, though, has refused for months to reveal the mileage of border wall that has been constructed at the southern border in areas that did not previously have barriers built. Breitbart News has made multiple requests to CBP officials, as well as a high-ranking DHS official, over the last two months and has yet to confirm the total mileage of new border wall on new land.
Every administration since the early 2000s has replaced border barriers at the U.S.-Mexico border, as the Trump administration has continued doing. The Obama administration, for example, constructed an 18-foot border fence that replaced an existing barrier in the Sunderland Park, New Mexico region.
Meanwhile, the majority of the U.S.-Mexico border has remained open as DHS replaces existing fencing rather than expanding border barriers to new land areas that would otherwise have stayed open.
In March, National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd told Breitbart News that no new border wall on new land where there were previously no barriers has been built by the Trump administration. To date, Judd said, Trump’s DHS has only renovated existing border fences and constructed border wall that has replaced existing fencing.
This week, a lawyer for the House of Representatives told an Oakland, California judge that less than two miles — 1.7 miles, exactly — of the border wall has been built at the southern border using the $1.57 billion that Congress allocated to the project last year.
Following the report, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed that the figure was incorrect and that more than 100 miles of border wall have been built, though that number would contradict totals from CBP.
“There is over 100 miles, I think, it is close to 115 miles have been finished,” Sanders toldFox News of wall construction.
At the same time, rumors have circulated that U.S. Border Patrol Chief Carla Provost isexpected to leave the agency after only serving officially in the lead position for about a year.
DHS did not respond with the total mileage of new border wall on new land in time for this publication.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2...all-a-mystery/

This story is a Wall Hoax, like the Russia Hoax, looking for a crime where there is none. The $1.57 billion in funding from the FY 2018 Omnibus bill which wasn't even approved by Congress until February of 2019, involves 70 miles of new fencing, some on new land, some on existing land, some new fence where there was none, and some replacing inferior fencing. It covers several locations in several states. FY 2017 funding wasn't approved until sometime in 2018, covered x amount of miles, again a combination of new and replacement, multiple locations in several states. To accurately report on this story, you would need to closely examine the contracts themselves, align them with the FY budget that funded it, and look for the completion inspection reports. No one walking around the White House or CBP or even the Army Corps of Engineers can answer "how many miles" of anything at any point in time without going to the time and effort to pull all the contracts and status report documents, which based on the low quality of reporting is to me a complete waste of their time and energy until the contracts are all completed for the applicable FY.

Originally Posted by Judy

This story is a Wall Hoax, like the Russia Hoax, looking for a crime where there is none. The $1.57 billion in funding from the FY 2018 Omnibus bill which wasn't even approved by Congress until February of 2019, involves 70 miles of new fencing, some on new land, some on existing land, some new fence where there was none, and some replacing inferior fencing. It covers several locations in several states. FY 2017 funding wasn't approved until sometime in 2018, covered x amount of miles, again a combination of new and replacement, multiple locations in several states. To accurately report on this story, you would need to closely examine the contracts themselves, align them with the FY budget that funded it, and look for the completion inspection reports. No one walking around the White House or CBP or even the Army Corps of Engineers can answer "how many miles" of anything at any point in time without going to the time and effort to pull all the contracts and status report documents, which based on the low quality of reporting is to me a complete waste of their time and energy until the contracts are all completed for the applicable FY.

Please, you're making my side hurt ....

Good! That was the objective. This is a totally silly story!! Some reporter asking how many miles of wall have been built from FY 2018 funding that wasn't even approved by Congress until February of 2019? Hilarious. The other funny thing is the source of the story which is "Bloomberg", no it was BNN Bloomberg, which is not our beloved Bloomberg of Manhattan, BNN Bloomberg is some outfit out of .... Toronto, Canada.

Trump stresses 'demolition and rebuilding' after report of slow border wall construct

Originally Posted by Judy

. . . The other funny thing is the source of the story which is "Bloomberg", no it was BNN Bloomberg, which is not our beloved Bloomberg of Manhattan, BNN Bloomberg is some outfit out of .... Toronto, Canada.

BNN Bloomberg

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

BNN Bloomberg

BNN Bloomberg (formerly Business News Network and Report on Business Television) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by Bell Media.

It broadcasts programming related to business and financial news and analysis. The channel is headquartered at 299 Queen Street West in Downtown Toronto.

Since April 30, 2018, the network has operated as a partner of the U.S. business channel Bloomberg Television, although BNN still produces a large portion of its business day programming in-house. Much of the channel's programming is also simulcast by the radio station CFTE 1410 in Vancouver, under the branding BNN Bloomberg Radio.


​

BNN Bloomberg
Launched	September 1, 1999; 19 years ago
Owned by	Bell Media (branding licensed from Bloomberg L.P.)
Picture format	1080i (HDTV) 480i (SDTV/4:3 letterbox)
Country	Canada
Language	English
Broadcast area	Nationwide
Headquarters	299 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Formerly called	Report on Business Television (1999–2007) Business News Network (2007–201
Sister channel(s)	CTV News Channel CP24
Website	BNN Bloomberg
Availability
Satellite
Bell TV	Channel 504 (SD) Channel 1568 (HD)
Shaw Direct	Channel 508 (SD) Channel 191 (HD)
Cable
Available on most Canadian cable systems	Consult your local cable provider for channel availability
IPTV
Bell Aliant Fibe TV	Channel 238 (SD) Channel 514 (HD)
Bell Fibe TV	Channel 504 (SD) Channel 1504 (HD)
Bell MTS	Channel 142 (SD) Channel 1142 (HD)
Optik TV	Channel 9815 (SD) Channel 815 (HD)
SaskTel	Channel 53 (SD) Channel 353 (HD)
VMedia	Channel 186 (HD)
Zazeen	Channel 43 (HD)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNN_Bloomberg

So Far, $1.57 Billion for Wall Yields 1.7 Miles of Fence

By Edvard Pettersson
May 21, 2019, 6:20 PM EDT Updated on May 22, 2019, 2:54 PM EDT

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has put up just 1.7 miles of fencing with the $1.57 billion that Congress appropriated last year for President Donald Trump’s wall along the Mexican border, a federal judge was told.

A lawyer for the Democrat-controlled U.S. House of Representatives provided the information Tuesday to the judge in Oakland, California, who is weighing requests from 20 state attorneys general and the the Sierra Club to block Trump from using funds not authorized by Congress to build the wall.

"The administration recently provided updated information to Congress on the status of its efforts as of April 30, 2019," the attorney, Douglas Letter, said in a court filing. "Based on that updated information, it appears that CBP has now constructed 1.7 miles of fencing with its fiscal year 2018 funding."

That was 3/4 of a mile more than the administration reported at the end of February, Letter said.

U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam had asked for the information at a May 17 hearing.

A May 20 report by Customs and Border Protection on the status of the border wall specified that the $1.5 billion in 2018 funding is being used to update or build 80 miles of the border wall.

That includes 14 miles of new and updated wall panels near San Diego, which is expected to be finished early next year, and 13 miles of new construction in the Rio Grande Valley. It’s not clear when that part will be finished.

The report doesn’t state how much of the $1.5 billion has been spent to date, and doesn’t contradict Letter’s claim. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did hand out more than $800 million of the 2018 funding for new contracts, according to the report.

Contracts also have been awarded for 41 miles of new wall to replace pedestrian fencing in San Diego and Calexico, California, and Yuma, Arizona, which should be completed late next year, according to the report. Another 12 miles of new wall in the Rio Grande Valley requires additional consulting with local officials, the report said.

President Donald Trump also commented on the progress of the wall construction on Twitter Wednesday, saying “tremendous work is being done.”

In all, $6.1 billion in funding has been committed since 2017 for the wall, both to Customs and Border Protection and the Defense Department, for 336 miles, according to the report.

(Adds CBP report on wall construction in sixth paragraph.)

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...miles-of-fence