Congress Passes Big Beautiful Border Security Reimbursement for States
The passage by Congress of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” includes a provision for the reimbursement of funds spent by states on border security. Texas led the nation in state border security spending and could receive up to $11 billion in reimbursements
In a post on social media on Thursday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott called the provision a “Big win for Texas.”
“Texas will finally get reimbursed for the billions we spent on securing the border when the Biden-Harris admin refused,” the Texas governor wrote. “Thank you, @realDonaldTrump, for standing with Texas.”
President Donald Trump is expected to sign the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” on July 4 during an Independence Day signing ceremony. The ceremony will include a White House flyover by U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit bombers, F-22 Raptor fighters, and F-35 Lightning II fighters, according to Fox News.
“We’re signing at about 5:00 p.m., and at about 5:00 p.m., we’re going to have B-2s and F-22s and F-35s flying right over the White House,” Trump told reporters during a press gaggle at Joint Base Andrews. “… so we’ll be signing with those beautiful planes flying right over our heads.”
The bill includes a provision entitled the “State Border Security Reimbursement Fund.” The bill authorized the expenditure of federal funds to be used as grants for eligible states and units of local government that spent funds for “construction or installation of a border wall, border fencing, or other barrier, or buoys along the southern border of the United States.” It also includes funds to reimburse the cost of state and local efforts to interdict “illicit substances and aliens who have unlawfully entered the United States and have committed a crime under Federal, State, or local law, and transfer or referral of such aliens to the Department of Homeland Security.”
Finally, the bill authorized the reimbursement of funds expended by state and local governments for the “relocation of aliens who are unlawfully present in the United States from small population centers to other domestic locations.” This would include Governor Abbott and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s programs that bused or flew migrants from border regions to sanctuary city jurisdictions in New York, Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and other locations. The City of El Paso also expended funds to bus migrants from the border to New York City, Breitbart Texas reported.
The bill also authorizes the Department of Homeland Security to establish a “State Border Security Reinforcement Fund” of $10 billion for the expenditure by states on border security efforts. The fund will be taken out of FY25 authorizations and will be available to the states until September 30, 2034, as stated in the act.
Bob Price is the Breitbart Texas-Border team’s associate editor and senior news contributor. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday morning talk show. He is a U.S. Air Force veteran and serves as president of Blue Wonder Gun Care Products.
