No Taxpayer Funding for the Wall Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 968 To prohibit the use of Federal funds to build a wall along the southern border, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 5, 2019 Ms. MOORE (for herself, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Ms. SPEIER, and Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Home- land Security, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com- mittee concerned A BILL To prohibit the use of Federal funds to build a wall along the southern border, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No Taxpayer Funding 4 for the Wall Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H968.IH H968 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 968 IH (1) The construction of a wall along the south- 1 ern border is estimated to cost tens of billions of 2 taxpayer dollars. 3 (2) On June 16, 2015, in New York, NY, while 4 announcing his candidacy for President of the 5 United States, Mr. Donald Trump stated ‘‘I would 6 build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better 7 than me, believe me, and I’ll build them very inex- 8 pensively. I will build a great, great wall on our 9 southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that 10 wall. Mark my words.’’. 11 (3) On July 31, 2015 in Turnberry, Scotland, 12 during an interview on CNN, Mr. Donald Trump 13 stated ‘‘I will build the wall and Mexico’s going to 14 pay for it and they will be happy to pay for it. Be- 15 cause Mexico is making so much money from the 16 United States that that’s going to be peanuts and all 17 these other characters say, ‘Oh, they won’t pay, they 18 won’t pay.’ They don’t know the first thing about 19 how to negotiate. Trust me, Mexico will pay for it.’’. 20 (4) On February 25, 2016, in Houston, TX, 21 during a Republican Presidential Debate, Mr. Don- 22 ald Trump stated, ‘‘We have a trade deficit with 23 Mexico of $58 billion dollars a year, and that doesn’t 24 include all the drugs that are pouring across and de- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H968.IH H968 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 968 IH stroying our country. We’re going to make them pay 1 for that wall.’’. 2 (5) On August 23, 2015, during an interview 3 on Justice with Judge Jeanine, Mr. Donald Trump 4 stated, ‘‘We’re going to build a wall. It’s going to be 5 a great wall. Mexico is going to pay for it.’’. 6 (6) On August 31, 2016, in Phoenix, AZ, dur- 7 ing a rally, Mr. Donald Trump stated, ‘‘We will 8 build a great wall along the southern border and 9 Mexico will pay for the wall. One hundred percent. 10 They don’t know it yet, but they’re going to pay for 11 the wall.’’. 12 (7) On January 10, 2017, General John Kelly, 13 President-elect Trump’s nominee for Secretary of 14 Homeland Security, stated during his Senate con- 15 firmation hearing, ‘‘A physical barrier in and of 16 itself—certainly as a military person that under- 17 stands defense and defenses—a physical barrier in 18 and of itself will not do the job, it has to be really 19 a layered defense.’’. 20 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON USE OF CERTAIN FEDERAL 21 FUNDS. 22 (a) IN GENERAL.— 23 (1) FEDERAL PROHIBITION.—Notwithstanding 24 any other provision of law, no Federal department 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H968.IH H968 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 968 IH or agency, including the Department of Homeland 1 Security and the Department of Defense, may obli- 2 gate or expend any Federal funds (including any 3 funds previously appropriated for such purpose or 4 any fee revenue generated by the Department of 5 Homeland Security or any other Federal department 6 or agency) to carry out section 102 of the Illegal Im- 7 migration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act 8 of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1103 note) or any other related 9 provision of law, or to otherwise build a border 10 fence, related physical barriers or infrastructure, or 11 wall along the southern border of the United States, 12 including to carry out any activities related to such 13 construction. 14 (2) STATE PROHIBITION.—Notwithstanding any 15 other provision of law, a State that has received or 16 receives any Federal funding in the form of a grant 17 from the Department of Homeland Security or any 18 other Federal department or agency may not use 19 such funding to carry out section 102 of the Illegal 20 Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility 21 Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1103 note) or any other re- 22 lated provision of law, or to otherwise build a border 23 fence, related physical barriers or infrastructure, or 24 wall along the southern border of the United States, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H968.IH H968 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 968 IH including to carry out any activities related to such 1 construction. 2 (3) FOREIGN PAYMENT REQUIRED.—The Presi- 3 dent is authorized to enter into a binding, written, 4 and enforceable treaty, approved by the Senate, with 5 a foreign country to pay for the costs associated 6 with carrying out section 102 of the Illegal Immigra- 7 tion Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 8 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1103 note) or any other related pro- 9 vision of law, or to otherwise build a border fence, 10 related physical barriers or infrastructure, or wall 11 along the southern border of the United States, in- 12 cluding to carry out any activities related to such 13 construction. 14 (b) AUDIT AND PENALTY.— 15 (1) AUDIT.—Not later than 180 days after the 16 end of each fiscal year, the Comptroller General of 17 the United States shall conduct an audit of each 18 Federal department and agency under subsection 19 (a)(1) and each State that has received or is receiv- 20 ing any Federal funding under subsection (a)(2) to 21 assess compliance with the prohibition under such 22 subsections for each such preceding fiscal year. 23 (2) PENALTY.—If the Comptroller General of 24 the United States is unable to confirm the compli- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H968.IH H968 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 968 IH ance with the prohibitions under subsection (a) by a 1 Federal department or agency or by a State, as the 2 case may be, pursuant to an audit conducted under 3 paragraph (1), notwithstanding any other provision 4 of law— 5 (A) in the case of Federal department or 6 agency, the Office of Management and Budget 7 may not obligate or expend more than 25 per- 8 cent of funds authorized to be appropriated for 9 such Office for the fiscal year during which 10 such audit is conducted, until such time as the 11 Comptroller General is able to confirm such 12 compliance; and 13 (B) in the case of a State, the heads of ap- 14 propriate Federal departments and agencies 15 shall take such steps as may be necessary to re- 16 duce the amount of Federal funds that are 17 made available to such State and to require 18 such State to repay such amounts previously 19 made available, as appropriate, until such time 20 as the Comptroller General is able to confirm 21 such compliance. 22 (c) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 23 gress that the funding prohibition under this section 24 should not interfere with the responsibility of the Sec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H968.IH H968 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 968 IH retary of Homeland Security to take actions as may be 1 required to secure the southern border of the United 2 States. 3 SEC. 4. OVERSIGHT. 4 The Inspector General of the Federal department or 5 agency responsible for carrying out the treaty referred to 6 in section 3(a)(3) shall oversee the use of funds received 7 and expended pursuant to such treaty to carry out section 8 102 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Re- 9 sponsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1103 note) or any other 10 related provision of law or to otherwise build a border 11 fence, related physical barriers or infrastructure, or wall 12 along the southern border of the United States, including 13 to carry out any activities related to such construction. 14 Such oversight shall include oversight regarding the use 15 of high risk contractor practices, including limited or sole 16 source contracting, any cost overruns, significant delays 17 in contract execution, and departmental contract manage- 18 ment and oversight of such funds. 19 SEC. 5. BUDGETARY IMPACT. 20 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office of 21 Management and Budget shall include a statement of 22 budgetary impact, including costs, benefits, and revenues, 23 as a result of and related to any executive order or presi- 24 dential memorandum issued relating to border security 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H968.IH H968 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 968 IH during the period of fiscal year 2019 through fiscal year 1 2023. 2 (b) CONTENTS.—Any statement under subsection (a) 3 shall include— 4 (1) a narrative summary of the budgetary im- 5 pact of such order or memorandum on the Federal 6 Government; 7 (2) the impact on mandatory and discretionary 8 obligations and outlays as the result of such order 9 or memorandum, listed by Federal department and 10 agency, for each year in the 5-fiscal-year period be- 11 ginning in fiscal year 2019; and 12 (3) the impact on revenues of the Federal Gov- 13 ernment as the result of such order or memorandum 14 over the 5-fiscal-year period beginning in fiscal year 15 2019. 16 SEC. 6. WEBSITE. 17 The Director of the Office of Management and Budg- 18 et shall establish a publicly available website to track and 19 display funds received from non-Federal sources, including 20 foreign governments, to carry out section 102 of the Illegal 21 Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 22 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1103 note) or any other related provision 23 of law or to otherwise build a border fence, related phys- 24 ical barriers or infrastructure, or wall along the southern 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H968.IH H968 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 968 IH border, including to carry out any activities related to such 1 construction. Such website shall be updated at least 2 monthly to accurately reflect data on funds received by 3 source and by date and on the obligation and expenditure 4 of such funds. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H968.IH H968 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS