http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3090668

March 18, 2005, 12:02AM
Senate finds money for 2,000 border agents
Hutchison cites terror dangers in her fight to restore budget cutsBy SAMANTHA LEVINE
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

BIRTH OF BUDGET AMENDMENT

• Initial idea: Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's first amendment version called for 1,000 agents.
• Upgrade: When she learned that Sen. John Ensign's measure asked for 2,000 agents, she teamed with him.

WASHINGTON - The Senate passed without debate an amendment Thursday to hire, train and equip 2,000 more Border Patrol agents, part of an expansion first backed by President Bush and later cut from his budget proposal.

"We have new warnings that terrorists plan to gain entry to our country through our southern border," said U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, who co-sponsored the amendment with fellow Republican Sen. John Ensign of Nevada.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and senators from other border states signed on in support.

Smuggling terrorists

Hutchison pointed to investigations showing groups such as Hezbollah and al-Qaida planned to smuggle terrorists over the Mexican border.

"We must immediately act," she said. "I will keep pushing to make sure we are putting on as many agents as we can absorb."

Bush's 2006 budget calls for hiring 210 new border agents, a departure from the intelligence reform bill he signed in mid-December that authorized 2,000 new agents for each of five years.

"It's absolutely critical that the federal government live up to its responsibility," Cornyn said.

As chairman of the Senate immigration subcommittee, he recently held the first of a series of hearings on border security.

Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, where thousands of illegal crossings take place every year, said the 2,000 agents represent "a commitment that was made and (the administration) reneged on."

Members of the House are also coming out against the president's plan.

Budget-neutral plan

Last week, Rep. Michael McCaul of Austin sent a letter signed by 44 members of the House, including Houston-area Reps. Ted Poe, Sheila Jackson Lee and Gene Green, that called on House appropriators to find money to hire more agents.

McCaul and Poe are Republicans; Jackson Lee and Green are Democrats.

The Senate amendment to the $2.6 trillion budget plan would cost about $352 million.

The money would not be added to the overall budget figure.

Rather, it would come from the international affairs budget, a $33 billion pot that pays for items including embassy security and foreign military assistance.

The fact that Hutchison's amendment is "budget neutral" helped it pass on a day when the Senate voted down several amendments whose backers could not make the same claim, according to Cornyn spokesman Don Stewart.