A bill sponsored by Alabama Congressman Dale Strong, R-Monrovia, to further efforts for building a wall on the Mexican border has been included in the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act.

The House version of the bill, known as the Finish It Act, would allocate materials from storage to be used to finish constructing the wall in border states, a project that began during the Trump presidency. Sen. Roger Wicker, a Republican from Mississippi, first introduced the bill in the Senate in July with Strong’s bill following in August in the House.

Strong’s office announced Monday that Strong’s bill is part of the NDAA. The bill must be approved by the full House and Senate as well as President Joe Biden and it remains to be seen if Strong’s bill will survive as part of the spending bill.

The bill says at least $300 million worth of border wall materials has been stored by the Defense Department since Biden stopped construction. Storage costs for the materials at about 20 private locations in Arizona and New Mexico has exceeded $25 million, the bill says.

The bill has more than three dozen co-sponsors, including Alabama House Republicans Robert Aderholt, Jerry Carl, Barry Moore and Gary Palmer.

“Every penny that goes to the Department of Defense should be used to best prepare our men and women in uniform to protect the United States,” Strong said in the announcement. “President Biden’s use of defense funds to indefinitely store unused border materials is an irresponsible misuse of resources during the ongoing crisis at the border and a pivotal time for U.S. national security.”

The House and Senate are expected to vote on the defense spending budget later this week.

“It is astounding to me that the Department of Defense is paying $130,000 per day to do nothing with $300 million worth of border wall materials,” Wicker said in Strong’s announcement. “This clear example of government waste is holding back our mission to protect American citizens and American security. President Biden appears to prefer spending money to avoid building the wall, rather than protect Americans from cartels.”