Smith joins a call to probe Biden's border wall construction suspension

Southeast Missouri’s U.S. Rep. Jason Smith (R-8th Dist.) is one of 71 GOP members of Congress who this week requested the federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate the Biden administration’s Inauguration Day suspension of wall system contracts and related freeze on Congress-allocated construction funding at the U.S.-Mexico border, claiming violation of the Impoundment Control Act.

A letter dated Tuesday sent to GAO comptroller general Gene Dodaro is signed not only by Smith, the ranking member of the House Budget Committee, but by 66 other Republican House members and four U.S. senators, including Missouri’s junior member of the upper chamber, Josh Hawley.

A similar letter requesting Dodaro’s legal opinion on the suspension and freeze was sent by 40 GOP senators six days before.

The earlier missive contained the signature of the Show Me State’s retiring senior U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt and alleges “operational control of our southern border was compromised, and a humanitarian and national security crisis has ensued.”

The March 17 letter squarely put the blame on President Joe Biden’s shoulders.

“The President’s actions directly contributed to this unfortunate, yet entirely avoidable, scenario. They are also a blatant violation of federal law and infringe on Congress’s constitutional power of the purse,” the letter continued.

The southern border with Mexico is 1,933 miles long, stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the tip of South Texas.

Smith’s view

“President Biden’s reckless policies have fueled a crisis at our southern border. His decision to freeze funding for a secure border wall is not only bad policy; it appears to be illegal. President Biden should follow the law and stop playing politics with our nation’s border security,” Smith said in a news release prepared by his office.

Smith, 40, has represented the 30-county 8th Congressional District since winning a special election June 4, 2013, succeeding Jo Ann Emerson.