Arrington Celebrates Federal Reimbursement for Texas Border Security Costs

Washington, D.C. – Today, House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington (TX-19) issued the following statement after Texas received confirmation of federal reimbursement through the One Big Beautiful Bill's State Border Security Reimbursement Fund (SBSRF) for border security costs paid by the state during the Biden Administration: "The first and most important responsibility of the federal government is to provide for the common defense. For four years, the Biden Administration abdicated that responsibility, failed to secure our sovereign border, and forced Texas to step up and spend more than $11 billion in state taxpayer dollars doing the job Washington refused to do. "As Budget Chairman, I worked with my fellow Texans to make it a priority in the One Big Beautiful Bill to right this wrong and ensure Texas taxpayers were reimbursed for the significant financial harm inflicted upon our citizens. Today, I’m proud to announce that Texas has received the restitution it is owed. "I want to thank President Trump for always making good on his promises including to remedy the injustice done to Texas taxpayers by making our state whole for holding the line when the Biden Administration failed to secure our border. This is a tremendous victory for the Lone Star State and the hardworking Texans who were double taxed to foot the bill for Biden’s dereliction of duty.” - Chairman Jodey Arrington. Background: The Biden Administration’s failure to secure the southern border forced Texas to spend billions in state taxpayer dollars on border security instead of priorities like education and infrastructure. This effort by the State of Texas was known as “Operation Lone Star." Chairman Arrington’s One Big Beautiful Bill created the $10 billion State Border Security Reimbursement Fund (SBSRF) to reimburse states like Texas for border security costs. Today, Governor Abbott announced the Trump Administration has confirmed that $7.5 billion of the SBSRF will be sent to the State of Texas as reimbursement for Operation Lone Star. ###