Posted on 02/26/2020 8:24:10 AM PST by montag813
by Joe Callen
The Trump administration stunned Democrat lawmakers and immigration advocacy groups Wednesday, announcing it will waive federal contracting laws to greatly speed up construction of a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Department of Homeland Security said waiving procurement regulations will allow 377 miles of new wall to be built far more quickly in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. The 10 waived laws include requirements for having open competition, justifying selections and receiving all bonding from a contractor before any work can begin.
By one estimate, the time to complete this huge section of wall could be cut by 80% due to this unprecedented maneuver.
The acting Homeland Security secretary, Chad Wolf, is exercising authority under a 2005 law -- then passed with bipartisan support -- that gives him sweeping powers to waive laws for building border barriers.
Since that time, of course, Democrats have changed their tune on a border wall. But it's too late -- the law is in place, and Trump is taking full advantage of it!
WATCH:
(Excerpt) Read more at us24news.com ...
I like to use the analogy of a ship that has been holed by collision or battle damage...you have to stop the flooding first, or nothing else matters.
I think we are stopping the flooding!
I like the way you think!
Great photos, RL. Thanks for posting those. This is a HUGE construction project and the sequential photos give some sense of that as well as the excellent staging of materials and sequencing of work tasks. Smooth workflow and efficiency are key. I’d love to see photos of where the steel fence sections are getting built. Kiewit does a lot of heavy steel fabrication in its projects, so they have lots of sites where these could be assembled (these are small steel “bents”).
A good friend spent his career in construction management building the largest and most complicated bridges with Kiewit. They are an excellent constructor. I had no idea they were building the wall.
I’d show my friend these photos except for the fact both he and his wife hate Trump. I have no idea why.
He can NOW use the virus as a reason to speed things up keep it out of the courts and I think he found extra funding!!!
“...hugh!”
That’s the other one...couldn’t remember it! Thanks.
I LOVED “Freedom’s Forge”. I hadn’t thought how this project exemplifies the can-do spirit written about in that book, but you are absolutely right.
Recall that there were a lot of obstacles to getting the US on a war footing quickly in 1942. It took convincing Roosevelt that private industry should be harnessed to build materiel, not the government armories; union stoppages; manpower shortages; raw material shortages. HUGE obstacles were overcome just as Trump has done.
Gonna watch that on the widescreen TV later. Phone small screen doesn’t do it justice. Thanks!
“Horatio at the Bridge” — excellent reference! That book series was my favorite in my 20s. It teaches a lot about leadership.
You are most welcome...I got such a kick out of watching it!
In my work, I have to deal with workflow, so I always appreciate when I see something set up to maximize the resources available and to speed things up to the highest rate. (I loved the little part of the video where it showed “This is the construction rate BEFORE...and this is AFTER...”
I have always been fascinated by modular construction of any kind, and the fact that they could take this blueprint and scale it to any amount of available money...they could have dozens of these running simultaneously...:)
Suddenly, that 1,954 miles of border doesn’t look like a journey to another galaxy! All ya gotta take sometimes is that first step, then the next...and the next.
I love it. ANOTHER campaign promise in the process of being fulfilled. I was so sick of promises made and never delivered on.
I wish Trump would do the same with our soaring debt, but...one thing at a time!
Excellent! Build more wall. Get it up as quickly as possible.
Absolutely! At home, I have my widescreen tv integrated with a computer, and that is the way to go...so much detail!
So much winning!
Great point. They were given so many chances to negotiate and screwed up each and every one. They were so confident that they could remove him from office using their old tried and true playbook that they so no other outcome. Now they are paying the price!
The Obama “stimulus” and “shovel ready jobs” was all about circulating our taxes to Democrat campaign coffers, nothing else. Well, they did put up a lot of signs all over America.
FTA:... could be cut by 80% due to this unprecedented maneuver.
There in lies the problem in America and the world over.
Regulations that stop progress.
Yes, William Knudson is largely unknown today, but he was the driving force to get it in motion.
I salute that man.
Great book, I loved how he took away files and hammers on Henry Ford’s first mass production line to FORCE them to achieve the tolerances needed for real mass production.
It was also illuminating to hear how, even though the Germans had the best armor by many accounts, it failed miserably at maintenance...you couldn’t take a manifold off of a damaged Tiger tank and put it on another without a degree of filing, drilling, and hammering to make it fit.
The Germans built their tanks like craftsmen would...which is nice, but...it had its drawbacks.
A Sherman tank, while less capable, had higher levels of maintainability due to the mass production techniques actually practiced.
I found that book fascinating!
#2 I have complained myself but that Gordian knot of regulations and politics was stopping Trump.
He looks like he is cutting the Gordian knot.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordian_Knot
He didn’t have funding for it. And he had the little sh*t Paul Ryan stringing him along about Congressional funding, lying through his Chamber of Commerce, bought and paid for teeth. Ryan is a traitorous little punk!
Speculation, but it could be that the time has been used to vet the contractors and procedures so that now pedal can be put to the metal, knowing that things will work and the public will not be ripped off.
So, all those procedures that are being waived aren't needed anymore.
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