While the Obamacare repeal and/or replace effort isn’t going very well thus far, the Trump administration can take comfort that one of its signature goals is proceeding in a timely fashion, at least by government standards.
The love-it-or-hate-it wall on the U.S./Mexico border will soon be under construction, at least in prototype form, according to Ronald Vitiello, acting deputy commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection plans to select four to eight firms in the coming weeks to build the prototypes for President Trump’s much-touted border wall, Ronald Vitiello, the agency’s acting deputy commissioner, said Tuesday.
The administration’s update on its plans for the wall comes amid delays in the bidding process and a seeming lack of political will to fund a continuous barrier along the 2,000-mile Mexico border.
The prototypes — including a reinforced concrete barrier wall as well as one made of an alternative material with see-through capability — will be built in San Diego.
Firms are expected to complete construction of the prototypes by September, within 30 days of their selection, Vitiello said.
More than 200 companies responded to the federal government’s two requests for proposals for the border wall in March. Customs and Border Protection had initially planned to award contracts by June 12, with construction beginning by July 21, according to a recent Homeland Security Inspector General’s report.
What the IG’s report found was a litany of federal failures (let’s all put on our shocked faces here).
The June 12 report highlighted a history of delays and lack of oversight when it comes to border security.
“Most of DHS’s major acquisition programs continue to cost more than expected, take longer to deploy than planned, or deliver less capability than promised,” the report said. “DHS sometimes approves moving forward with major acquisition programs without appropriate internal oversight.”
Much of the noise-making effort by the MSM in their attempts to disrupt this presidency involves making it seem as if he isn’t getting anything done. With the Supreme Court reinstating parts of the travel ban at the beginning of the week and this news, the administration still has something to celebrate, even with the health care debacle. In fact, most of that mess seems to be sticking to the Republicans in Congress, and not the president.
Republicans on the Hill have made the health care reform efforts such unmitigated disasters thus far that they’ve angered the GOP’s biggest donors, who want to see less clown show and more acting like they’re actually in the majority.
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