‘Where’s The Rest Of The $46 Billion?’: Rand Paul Confronts DHS Sec. Kristi Noem On Border Spending

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During a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing prior to the Congressional recess, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) questioned DHS Sec. Kristi Noem.

Transcript

00:00Secretary knows, everybody knows, that's the end.

00:02We're going to try to move on to the next person to get you out of here.

00:06We talked a little bit about the wall earlier.

00:08The administration has asked for $46.5 billion for the wall.

00:13The border on the Mexican border is about 1,950 miles.

00:17We've fenced or walled about 700 of it.

00:21That leaves about 1,200 miles.

00:23There's 200 or 300 miles of it that probably never going to have a fence on.

00:26It's mountainous or just impossible to fence or wall.

00:30So I would say, realistically, you've got under 1,000.

00:32But let's just say there's 1,000.

00:34You really want a wall in 1,000.

00:36CBP says it's 6.5 million per mile.

00:40Your response today was 12 millions per mile.

00:43That means $12 billion for 1,000 miles.

00:45We're off here by a factor of 3 or 4 with $46 billion.

00:50Where's the rest of the $46 billion?

00:52The administration says they want $46 billion for a wall.

00:54You could pave all of it and still have, you know, $34 billion left over.

01:01What's the $34 billion going for?

01:04Yes, Senator.

01:04Thank you for the question.

01:05We do have 702 miles of wall today.

01:10598 of that are steel.

01:11The rest of that is temporary.

01:12That's in place.

01:13Since the president's been in office, over 70 miles has been erected.

01:17We have 11 contracts that have gone out and allocated.

01:21We also have five more that are pending.

01:24Based on the dollars that have been requested,

01:27it's not just the infrastructure that would be built

01:29that would be the actual wall construction.

01:32It would be also surveillance equipment.

01:33The numbers lay off.

01:36You could do 1,000 miles for $12 billion.

01:39You're asking for $46 billion.

01:40So I'm one who's not impressed

01:42and would have to see more detail as to where the rest of the money goes.

01:44And we can't just throw $30 billion out there and say things cost a lot.

01:49I agree.

01:49We'll get you the specifics on that.

01:50With regard to the drones and all the preparatory work that DHS does

01:55and the government does for the NFL and for FIFA,

01:58does the NFL pay DHS for the work you do?

02:02Boy, not to my knowledge.

02:03I will.

02:03Well, I mean, here's my point.

02:06The NFL makes billions of dollars.

02:08We're $2 trillion in the hole.

02:09I don't care if government shares their technology

02:12and government helps out the World Cup.

02:15They ought to pay.

02:16People are paying hundreds of dollars for tickets.

02:18I mean, thousands of dollars for the NFL, for Super Bowl and things.

02:22They're also paying for FIFA.

02:24And so these people ought to pay.

02:26And so I'm one holding up these authorizations,

02:29and I'll let them go forward.

02:31But I want people to pay.

02:33I mean, it's ridiculous that the average taxpayer

02:35who could never afford to go to an NFL Super Bowl

02:37has got to pay for their security.

02:38Should the government help?

02:40If we have technology they don't, perhaps.

02:42But they ought to pay.

02:44So NFL, FIFA, I think they all ought to pay.

02:47And we'll be insisting on trying to put language in that.

02:50If you're a for-profit entity and the government's helping you,

02:53you ought to pay for it.

02:55With regard to TSA Quiet Skies and Tulsi Gabbard's situation,

03:00I suspect there are going to be other people

03:01that were caught up in this thing as well.

03:04I'm horrified by the idea that we took a former congresswoman

03:08and we're surveilling her and riding on jets with her.

03:11There was another story of an air marshal whose wife, I mean,

03:15might have been at January 6th or something,

03:17and now we're, you know, have air marshals riding following another air marshal

03:22or his wife.

03:23So I want to hear the whole story of what happened.

03:27I want to hear that people have been let go,

03:29that they're no longer doing this.

03:31If there were abuses of Tulsi Gabbard's liberties,

03:33I want to hear from that.

03:35But I want repercussions to come from this.

03:37And I think you've said something's coming.

03:39Please let us know, and let us know how the program,

03:44the destruction of civil liberties can be minimized.

03:48I, frankly, probably have trouble with the whole program,

03:51but let's see if there's some way.

03:52But we need significant reform.

03:54If it needs legislation, please come to us with that.

03:57Thank you for your testimony today.

04:02Thank you again, Secretary Nell, for being here.

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