U.S. Spent $872,000 To Build and Then Dismantle Fence for SOTU Address

Once a year — every year since 1790 — the president of the United States has delivered a message on the state of the union.

However, the message was sent in writing from 1801 to 1913. The president has been almost exclusively present at the U.S. Capitol since that time to deliver this message in person.

It’s a pointless — and partisan — exercise. The president claims credit and then blames the other party for all the woes. Finally, he gives a laundry list with all the things that he wants to do for the future. Most of these never happen.

Maybe it’s time we go back to a written message. The annual event, which took place on Tuesday, cost almost a million dollars to put up a fence to secure the Capitol. This is not counting the salaries of the security and law enforcement officers who were needed. Since January 6, 2021, when rioters entered the building and ran wild for several hours, authorities have been terrified. They put up the fence.

But the architect of the U.S. Capitol (AOC) — that’s a federal agency responsible for the maintenance, operation, development, and preservation of the complex — said there was really no reason to erect the barrier.

Brett Blanton, the current Capitol architect, told the House Committee on House Administration on Thursday that there were no threats ahead of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, but House and Senate officials still opted to erect the fence.

“It’s going to be cheaper to put the fence up and have less people,” He said to the subcommittee: a href=”https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/washington-secrets/capitol-architect-no-threat-to-justify-state-of-union-fence”>according According to the Washington Examiner. Blanton claimed that the fence cost $872,000 to build and remove. This expense was covered by the U.S. Secret Service.

Rep. Laurel Lee (R. FL) asked Blanton why he erected the fence if there were not threats. “That is correct, and also on January 6 there was no specific threat as well,” He pointed out.

Blanton wasn’t at the Capitol on January 6, telling the committee, “There was no actionable intelligence that there was going to be anything here that was presented to the Capitol Police Board.”

Some lawmakers were furious he wasn’t on site that day.

“I’m outraged that you would be in a comfortable place, sir, while the rest of us were thinking about dying that day and how we were going to come out alive that day,” Blanton was informed by Rep. Norma Torres, D-CA. “Outrageous that you were not here.”

“I find it mind-blowing that the head of the AOC, the leader, knowing what you knew — probably a lot more than we did that day — would not have been in this building ensuring the safety and security not only of the building but of the employees that you lead,” echoed Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK).

That statement perked up the ears of Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI), chairman of the committee that oversees the police and architect’s office. He assured lawmakers that he would investigate whether there were. “actionable intelligence” Before the January 6 riots.

The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Joseph Curl has been covering politics for 35+ years, 12 of which were as a White House correspondent for a national paper. For four years, he was the Drudge Report’s a.m. editor. Send tips to [email protected] Follow him on Twitter @josephcurl