House Republican introduces bill to reimburse Texas the nearly $4 billion it spent to secure border

Posted 74 days ago

From WWW.FOXNEWS.COM

FIRST ON FOX: A GOP House lawmaker has introduced a piece of legislation that aims to reimburse Texas for the nearly $4 billion in expenses it incurred to secure the southern border in recent years.

Titled the "Operation Lone Star Reimbursement Act," the measure was introduced Thursday evening by Texas Republican Rep. Roger Williams and would, if successful, reimburse the state for the combined $3,726,400,000 it spent on activities related to securing the southern border from 2020 through 2023.

"The Federal Government is primarily responsible for securing the borders of the United States at and between ports of entry," the bill reads. "Due to the lack of action by the Federal Government, the State of Texas has been forced to continually appropriate funds to secure the southern border of the United States."

In an effort to "help maintain safety and security for all citizens" in the U. S., the measure noted that Texas has protected Americans from criminal acts of human trafficking, sex trafficking, drug proliferation, illicit movement of weapons and contraband, criminal organizations and unlawful entry.

To secure the border, the measure said Texas spent more than $800,000,000 in 2020 and 2021, and more than $2,926,400,000 in 2022 through 2023.

The bill also explained that Texas "plans to spend an additional $4,600,000,000 to secure the border" from 2024 through 2025.

The bill calls on Texas to submit an application for reimbursement to the secretary of Homeland Security and the secretary of the Treasury Department that includes the total amount the state spent on securing the southern border over the last four years.

Should the measure pass and be signed into law, the bill states that the Treasury secretary "shall pay to the State of Texas, out of any amounts in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, an amount equal to the total amount of expenses" outlined in the bill within 60 days of Texas filing the application.

"As the border crisis rages on, President Biden has failed to uphold his duty to defend our borders from foreign invasion, leaving border states like Texas to fend for themselves," Williams told Fox News Digital in a statement. "I am proud to introduce the Operation Lone Star Reimbursement Act to ensure Texans don’t have to continually shell out taxpayer dollars to secure the southern border of the United States."... (Read more)










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