All up and down the campaign trail, then-candidate Donald Trump promised that he was going to get a border wall built between the United States and Mexico.
Fast forward to today, and little progress has been made on that front.
While we can certainly point fingers at the obstructionists known as the Democratic party as a big reason for that, there are some other hang-ups that demonstrate how much of a swamp remains to be drained in Washington DC.
The Washington Examiner explains.
Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Elaine Duke said Wednesday that environmental laws and real property acquisition are the some of the biggest obstacles the government is facing when it comes to building President Trump’s wall on the southwest border, despite the constant battles in Congress over funding.
“We are not seeking to trample environmental laws, but when we lay out the timeline of building the border, I know it’s easy to focus on procurement but the real property acquisition and the environmental are the long poles in the tent, especially the real property acquisition,” Duke told hundreds of border agents and immigration officers here at the Border Security Expo.
Beyond the whining and crying from Democrats that are absolutely terrified that their pipeline of voters may be blocked, there’s a ton of red tape that the Trump administration has to dig through just to get things done.
While the commander-in-chief has already rolled back a ton of nonsense regulations that impede our nation’s progress, there remains much work to be done.
The federal process for gaining approval for building on land is “way more complicated” than state and local processes. The federal government must go through court instead of negotiating directly with local officials.
“We’re looking at that and figuring out what is the best model. I think that it’s going to depend on the space and you will see waivers where it’s necessary,” she said.
“What we’re looking at is, trying to be considerate and compassionate to those that are affected. There are landowners that have land between a proposed wall, and really considering the balancing of the urgency of the mission’s need with the need of the people and the environment.”
As Trump has demonstrated time and again during his first year in office, this will get done.
Whether Democrats like it or not is irrelevant. Their temper tantrums will ultimately be for naught.
As for the environmental laws, common sense will eventually rule the day on that front as well. That said, this is just another sign of how broken things are in our nation’s capital.
Thankfully, we finally have a leader in place that will take the time necessary to clean it up once and for all.
Source: Washington Examiner
