Posted on 02/20/2007 6:09:53 PM PST by FLOutdoorsman
To build support for a border fence, legislators needed only one item — pandering on an issue that did nothing but provide red meat for their base.
But to build the fence, the lawmakers needed two more items — legislation and funding.
They got the legislation — the president signed the bill authorizing construction of the fence last fall — but if they yell, "Show me the money," they might not like the answer.
President Bush addressed the fence in his budget, but of the $2.9 trillion he proposed, a tiny fraction, $1 billion, would go into the very barrier he authorized.
That would be enough to build 150 miles of the fence by the end of this year and 370 miles by the time the president leaves office in early 2009, the Dallas Morning News reported.
That total would be a lot less than the 700 miles the legislation originally called for, and fence advocates are not amused.
"That was a law that was passed," Bob Dane, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, told the Morning News. "The expectation by the American public is 700 miles of it should be built ... It's the only tangible statement we have of any modicum of border security at this point."
Of course, Congress has the power to fully fund the fence project, but that is unlikely now that Democrats are in the majority.
The lack of a wholehearted funding push by the White House suggests what critics of the fence were pointing out all along — that the legislation was a political ploy, not a serious attempt to crack down on illegal immigration.
Now that the ruse has been exposed, the president and Congress should get serious and eliminate all the money for the fence, as meager as the funding is.
After all, cutting the fence money would represent a small step toward another pledge Bush has made — balancing the budget within five years.
I'm shocked. Jorge's legacy grows.
So... He lied to us again, what's new?
6 Predators patrol the border, each carrying a red dye that can mark anything within a 100 yard radius.
Someone tries to cross the border, they get sprayed and the border patrol can pick them up at their leisure.
January 20th, 2009 can not come soon enough.
Projects are rarely ever funded fully in one fiscal year. The fence is going to take a few years to build so it will be built in phases across fiscal years. I'll eat crow if there's no money in the FY 08 budget for continuing construction. Until then I'm not going to trash the President.
To be processed by Border Patrol, detention facility guards, judges, lawyers...
This "virtual fence" crap is a wasteful boondoggle. It's a welfare bill for Federal bureaucrats. Give me concrete and steel.
Be careful what you wish for.....
Quick ending of all government subsidies to illegals,relentless prosecution of those hiring illegals,quick deportation of all illegals,serious prosecution of all involved in fake document,false voter registration,and all kinds of smuggling would be much better.
If there were American citizens willing to break the laws hiring the illegals(and screw both the illegals and their fellow Americans) the migration would stop.
Bull. Back in 1941, we built the worlds largest building in a swamp in 18 months.
The reality is, we're no more committed to building a wall than we are to rebuilding this
In the time that politicians have been bouncing this topic around, the wall would have been done by now.
All W had to do was say, "Get 'er done."
I'd implement all of your suggestions, and build the wall. Long term, it will pay for itself. If we can spend a billion a month in the Middle East, we can spend a billion to plant steel and concrete in the ground.
lol Someone really thought the President was serious about the issue?
No one has said it better then you just did,thank you.
Well good, because that simile is without integrity on your part. This wall isn't to keep people from leaving America and it doesn't have machine gun nests.
Quick ending of all government subsidies to illegals,relentless prosecution of those hiring illegals,quick deportation of all illegals,serious prosecution of all involved in fake document,false voter registration,and all kinds of smuggling would be much better.
You know that won't happen, if only because Supreme Court decisions have mandated emergency medical care and free k-12 schooling, so this is another empty "solution."
If there were American citizens willing to break the laws hiring the illegals(and screw both the illegals and their fellow Americans) the migration would stop.
And if you wanted illegal immigration to stop you wouldn't offer proposals like these.
Better to have your enemy in front of you, than be deceived by a friend beside you.
I don't know who deceived you...
Did you even read this article??
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