Thread: Senate to Try Again to Fund Border Security

Senate to Try Again to Fund Border Security

Updated: Wednesday, 04 Aug 2010, 8:50 PM MDT
Published : Wednesday, 04 Aug 2010, 8:50 PM MDT

JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate will make another stab at increasing spending for border security before closing down for its monthlong summer recess at the end of this week.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., is going to try to push through a bill that provides an additional $600 million for the border. That includes $176 million to hire 1,500 more officers to form a strike force to be deployed in critical areas along the border, his office said Wednesday.

The House passed a measure with $701 million for border security, before it left for its recess last week. The White House has sought the additional funding, and, with illegal immigration shaping up as a major issue in the fall election, both parties have pressed for action to restore some semblance of order to the country's southern border.

It's unclear whether Schumer's proposal will gain the Republican support needed to act on it before the Senate recesses. Republicans have proposed similar legislation but would pay for it by taking unused money from the Obama administration's economic stimulus program, an idea unacceptable to Democrats.

Schumer would pay for his measure by raising fees on visas for temporary skilled workers sent to the United States by Indian companies.

The House is set to return for a special session next week to vote on a $26 billion package the Senate passed Wednesday to help states with their budget crises and protect the jobs of tens of thousands of teachers. That would also give the House an opportunity to take up the border security issue if the Senate acts this week.

Statement by U.S. Rep Gabrielle Giffords

"Residents in my district are fed-up. They are tired of the break-ins, thefts, threats of violence and trash caused by the smuggling of drugs and people across their land every day. We have entered a new phase of the border security problem and it is causing great fear among residents along the U.S.-Mexico border. Border security is national security. A safe border helps make our whole nation more secure."

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/im ... y-8-4-2010

Dennis Miller says "he'd like to see someone build a long skinny mosque all the way along on the southern border.
The Mexicans will whine, the Muslims will whine back at them and everybody else will be happy."
Nobody will cross the border.

Republicans have proposed similar legislation but would pay for it by taking unused money from the Obama administration's economic stimulus program, an idea unacceptable to Democrats.

Oh, no, they wouldn't want to take money from the stimulus program, it's needed to study ants and fund sidewalks that end up in a ditch, just to site a couple.