{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-to-austin-border-wall-disposal-must-fully-disclose", "Cotton to Austin: Border Wall Disposal Must Fully Disclose", "2024-12-16", "2024", "2024-12", "Republican", "Senate", "AR", "Tom Cotton", "C001095", "www.cotton.senate.gov", "cotton", "https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\n\nContact: Caroline Tabler or Patrick McCann (202) 224-2353\n\nDecember 16, 2024\n\nCotton to Austin: Border Wall Disposal Must Fully Disclose\n\nWashington, D.C.\u2014 Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) today sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, demanding full transparency regarding on the Department of Defense\u2019s role in selling parts of our southern border wall.\n\nIn part, Senator Cotton wrote:\n\n\u201cI write to demand full accountability and transparency from the Department of Defense about its role in the disposal of excess border wall materials from the first Trump administration. While I recognize the shameful decision to halt the needed construction of the southwestern border wall was made by President Biden, I have outstanding questions regarding the Department\u2019s role in disposing of the unused material.\u201d\n\nFull text of the letter may be found here and below.\n\nThe Honorable Lloyd J. Austin III\n\nSecretary of Defense\n\n1000 Defense Pentagon\n\nWashington, D.C. 20301-1000\n\nSecretary Austin,\n\nI write to demand full accountability and transparency from the Department of Defense about its role in the disposal of excess border wall materials from the first Trump administration. While I recognize the shameful decision to halt the needed construction of the southwestern border wall was made by President Biden, I have outstanding questions regarding the Department\u2019s role in disposing of the unused material.\n\nTo that end, I direct that you provide the following by January 15, 2025:\n\nWritten assurance that the Department will preserve all electronic and written material related to the disposition of the border wall materials. This includes the records, electronic or otherwise, of any individual involved in any aspect of the operation.\n\nA full accounting of the disposition of the materials in line with the plan required by section 2890 of the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).\n\nA list of all companies who bought the materials.\n\nThankfully, the egregious waste of taxpayer money and flaunting of urgent national security concerns will end on January 20, 2025, when President-elect Trump assumes office. Congress will use the records you are required by law to preserve to fully understand the Biden Department of Defense\u2019s role in making our border less secure.\n\nSincerely,\n\nTom Cotton\n\nUnited States Senator\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T22:13:55Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-to-austin-border-wall-disposal-must-fully-disclose"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8878209628164768, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}