Trump’s border barrier has so far cost taxpayers $10 billion
Washington (November 15, 2019) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) introduced legislation with Senators Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) that would block federal funds from being used to live stream border wall construction activities. The legislation would ensure that no federal dollars would be used to install or operate a video recording device at a border wall construction site for the purpose of live streaming the construction activities through a webcam. The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration is planning to set up web cameras to livestream construction of the southern border wall, against objections from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials. Construction contractors also have apparently expressed concerns about their proprietary techniques being visible to competitors.
“The only idea dumber than building a so-called ‘impenetrable’ wall along our southern border is livestreaming it,” said Senator Markey. “Trump has already wasted billions on his border wall boondoggle, we shouldn’t waste a single dollar on a wall-cam.”
“The only thing more senseless and wasteful than an ineffective border wall is installing a camera to livestream its construction,” said Senator Booker. “Federal funds should be used to improve the lives of Americans, not capture the activities of Trump’s xenophobic vanity project.”
“This is America, not a reality TV show,” said Senator Wyden. “It’s irresponsible enough to build an ineffective border wall at taxpayers’ expense. It’s even more foolish to spend federal funds to livestream it.”
“It’s not enough for Donald Trump to waste billions of federal taxpayer dollars for his vanity wall, he now wants to waste even more money to livestream the construction to rally his base,” said Senator Hirono. “The American public does not need to spend more taxpayer money to see Donald Trump’s disastrous policies in real-time.”
A copy of the No Wall-Cam Act can be found HERE.
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