Posted on 12/17/2007 8:48:52 PM PST by Ultra Sonic 007
MAXWELL, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The omnibus Consolidated Appropriations bill includes a little-known provision that guts the major provisions of the Secure Fence Act of 2006. This provision -- buried on page 123 of Division E of the Consolidated Appropriations Act - contradicts the Secure Fence Act’s specific mandate of a double-layer fence covering 854 miles of the U.S-Mexico border.
Grassfire.org has been tracking this provision which was first introduced quietly by Sen. Hutchison this summer as S.Amdt. 2466 to H.R. 2368 (the DHS appropriations bill). “The Hutchison amendment gives DHS virtually total discretion over how and where the fence is built,” says Grassfire.org President Steve Elliott. “In fact, DHS would not be required to build fencing in any particular location -- and the double-layer mandate is totally gone.”
In its report on the “Fence Funding Hoax,” Grassfire has chronicled how the plan to gut the Secure Fence Act was actually hatched the day the bill passed the Senate in 2006. (View that report.) “I find it odd that such an important amendment which releases DHS from specific requirements of an existing law would be passed by a simple voice vote in the Senate and then buried in the massive omnibus bill,” says Elliott. “The American people reasonably expect that a double-layer fence will be built but Congress has always had other plans. This amendment should be stripped from the final omnibus bill.”
Resources:
Text of omnibus bill: http://www.rules.house.gov/110_fy08_omni.htm
(To view Hutchison Amendment, select “Division E” and view page 123)
Grassfire.org’s special report on the Funding Hoax:
http://www.firesociety.com/article/19402/
For more information about Grassfire.org, or to schedule an interview with Grassfire President Steve Elliott, contact Ron De Jong at 757-487-7900 or email ron@grassfire.org
Ping of TOTAL OUTRAGE!
I actually believe, the money is already gone. It went to the virtual fence. I think Boeing said it failed? I pinged you all to that a few days ago.
This bill is to cover that lost money.
It’s way past the time to throw the bums out of office.
Words can not express my disappointment with this Omnibus bill. The Congress is stuck on stupid.
Jorge gave Kay her marching orders.
These bozos had no intention on building the fence. They are all bought out by the anti-American crowd
Unless you Congressman or Senator is 100% on border security and illegal-alien suppression....vote them out
ping
Where might a record of this voice vote be located? I want to see where our wonderful Liddy Dole landed on this one, since she’s being painted as tough on the issue.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1939249/posts?page=3#3
Giuliani has financial interests in that Virtual Fence.
Conflict of INTEREST???
Campaign Funding: Kay Bailey Hutchison (R, Texas)
Top 20 Contributors:
Contributor Total PACs Indivs
7. Bracewell & Giuliani $27,300 $10,000 $17,300
>>>..."SBInet," it may eventually monitor 6,000 miles of the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada. The government has withheld final payment on the initial $20 million contract while Boeing fixes glitches.<<<<<
Is this what Chertoff allocated the PHYSICAL border fence money to????
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119689136413514923.html?mod=hps_us_whats_news
Concerns Raised on Border Fence: Lawmaker Seeks To Delay Handover Of the Boeing System
In a letter sent late yesterday to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D., Miss.) cited continuing concerns by the committee that problems with the virtual-fence system known as Project 28 aren't fixed. The committee also is concerned that the effort doesn't give agents the technological advantages Boeing has promised.
Further delay of a project already almost six months behind could set back the credibility of both the effort and of Boeing. It also signals a determination by lawmakers to keep a sharp eye on how Homeland Security buys from the defense industry. Boeing's project is part of a larger effort estimated to cost taxpayers at least $8 billion through 2013, although a government watchdog has warned the costs could triple.
The effort is designed to make agents more effective at stopping smugglers and illegal immigrants by substituting technology for personnel. Known as "SBInet," it may eventually monitor 6,000 miles of the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada. The government has withheld final payment on the initial $20 million contract while Boeing fixes glitches. Representatives for both Boeing and Homeland Security said they hadn't seen Mr. Thompson's letter.
Boeing has been waiting to turn over the first 28-mile section of the fence since the end of November. If the project is accepted, the government will operate the system alongside Boeing during a 45-day test period that may result in a formal handoff early next year.
...To track a smuggler, an agent in a vehicle can remotely operate a camera and radar system mounted atop a 98-foot tower. Officials have said the system will be capable of locating a person five miles away or a moving car at three times that distance. The network will be overseen by command centers that have the ability to tap into every tower.
Anyone else want to know where the INITIAL $20 million dollars came from???
Giuliani and his partners also did the legal work for the company building the NAFTA Superhighway
Sen Hutchinson sounds like another Lone Star pro-illegal/anti-American fraud
>>>>Giuliani and his partners also did the legal work for the company building the NAFTA Superhighway
Reference:
Bracewell & Giuliani Firm Advises Cintra in First Privatization of Toll Road in Texas
DALLAS (March 1, 2007) Bracewell & Giuliani LLP advised Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte, S.A., a Spanish transportation company, in its successful bid to develop State Highway 121 into a toll road through Collin and Denton counties.
The award to Cintra, approved by the Texas Transportation Commission, is the first privatization of a Texas toll road. Bracewell is acting as project counsel to Cintra with respect to the 50-year concession from the Texas Department of Transportation. Cintra will pay a $2.1 billion upfront and annual lease payments totaling $700 million. “Cintra was awarded this project because of its proven expertise and competitive proposal,” said Thomas O. Moore, partner with Bracewell & Giuliani. “This is the largest transportation deal of 2007. This is one of only five deals in the country.”
Three firms have competed for the Comprehensive Development Agreement for State Highway 121 since last summer. The proposals were reviewed and scored based on selection criteria set forth by the Regional Transportation Council, the metropolitan planning agency for the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
This CDA is a public-private partnership that allows the provider to handle all facets of developing the toll road, including completing construction and operating and maintaining the corridor. Cintra, a subsidiary of Grupo Ferrovial specialized in toll roads and car parks, is one of the world’s leading private-sector developers of transport infrastructure.
Oh, one more tidbit for kicks and giggles.
Chertoff and Giuliani use to work in NYC together prosecuting organized crime.
***Sen Hutchinson sounds like another Lone Star pro-illegal/anti-American fraud***
Isn’t she going to run for Governor when Perry becomes the VP?
If Hutchison does run for governor and wins, once she would step down as senator a temporary appointment would be made by the governor to fill the Senate seat until an election would be held.
Yup.
Didn't I read that his firm is also connected with FOX news?
No tin foil required to connect the dots.
Rudy has been annointed.
Maybe. I know he is connected to CNN and Time Warner.
I have worse tin foil for you. Remember Curt Weldon and Able Danger? If you followed that closely (I did), you may want to take the time to read this:
http://www.opednews.com/duncan_011205_NJ_Terrorism_Michael_Chertoff.htm
New Jersey and Terrorism…Perfect Together
This is when Chertoff was OUR NJ Attorney General.
Yeppers. I am amazed at how blatently they now ignore us.
The fencing provisions were just to get the amnesty through and now that there's no amnesty, there's no need for the fence to quiet us conservatives down.
People keep saying that this is a Democrat congress and Senate. That's not actually true. It's still pretty close to half and half.
The dems can only work their evil with GOP connivance. And there's plenty of that.
They'll NEVER build a fence or put other protections of that border in place. and when the next terror attack happens, if it's proven that they came across the borders, the GOP will die cause it happened on their watch.
Funny you would mention Weldon and AD. Before stopping at FR tonight I was going over something I had written several months ago...about Weldon and AD!
I will read your link.
night
Wasn’t it Lott who bragged VERY early on that the funding for the fence would be gutted?
So the DHS spent the fence money on a Boeing program that didn’t work? Who paid whom off here I wonder?
And then, if Perry is not VP for Rudy, KBH appoints Perry to the Senate and he gets to run as an incumbent in 2012. It's a nice little do-se-do of RINO's.
I will vote for neither of them for any office and will actively support any credible primary opponent.
G’night. I will probably have nightmares now and I’m only halfway through.
Yep! It certainly is shaping up to look that way...and not just in Texas!
I am so mexicanned out. Wake me when its time for Operation Extraction.
Until a nuke goes off that can be directly tied to a group known to have come across from mexico, we’re going to be the unwilling hosts for as many parasites as can possibly crawl into the country. After the nuke, it'll be the direct action of fed up citizens that will force the governments hand.
America is bleeding out from a thousand different wounds and there’s not a damned legal thing we can do to stop it.
Or like you suggested up on the thread may have already been spent.
I’d like to know where the money went if that is the case.
I think we all knew no fence was ever going to go up.
From the Omnibus bill:
. “(A) REINFORCED FENCING.-In carrying
out subsection (a), the Secretary of Homeland
Security shall construct reinforced fencing
along not less than 700 miles of the southwest
border where fencing would be most practical
. and effective and provide for the installation of
additional physical barriers, roads, lighting,
cameras, and sensors to gain operational control
of the southwest border.”
“(D) LIMITATION ON REQUIREMENTS.Notwithstanding
subparagraph (A), nothing in
this paragraph shall require the Secretary of
Homeland Security to install fencing, physical
barriers, roads, lighting, cameras, and sensors
in a particular location along an international
border of the United States, if the Secretary determines
that the use or placement of such resources
is not the most appropriate means to
achieve and maintain operational control over
the international border at such location.”; and
From Hutchinson’s website:
“Sen. Hutchison has supported efforts to increase funding for personnel, technology, and equipment to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The Senate recently passed H.R. 2638, the DHS Appropriations bill, which provides additional resources to DHS and includes her amendment, #2466, providing DHS the flexibility they need to ensure that local border patrol sector chiefs and community leaders are working together on border issues.”
http://hutchison.senate.gov/pr091907a.html
Apparently the omnibus bill has already passed. This lies and maneuvering of these low life’s is amazing. They have no shame.
Throughout the amnesty/immigration debates, Hutchinson was mealy mouthing, usually voting for security, but introducing amendments and making speeches that showed she really didn’t want meaningful border enforcement.
It’s time for a revolution!
“Apparently the omnibus bill has already passed.”
Or maybe not. I think it’s in the House/Senate conference committee.
Omnibus Bill Includes Border Fence-Gutting Amendment (This is outrageous!!!)....
any wonder why jorge bush is so anxious to sign it.....
jorge’s legacy ~ los estados de unidos de meximerica!!!!
“Jorge gave Kay her marching orders.”
She’s been in his pocket since day one on this issue. Neither she nor Cornyn are to be trusted with our sovereignty and security!
One of our Fellow FReepers used to have a tag line “Why isn’t there a virtual fence around the White House?”
Completely believable.
This Administration is working with the Dems to transfer our rights over to illegals.
Republicans get their cheap labor force for their big business donors and Democrats get the voters they want to stat in power.
And we get screwed. Again.
SBInet is a program created under U.S. Customs and Border Protection to design a new integrated system of personnel, infrastructure, technology, and rapid response to secure the borders.
DHS awarded this contract to Boeing. But, Boeing outsources its IT work to Computer Sciences Corp.
DynCorp was bought by Computer Sciences Corp. in 2003.
DynCorp is a client of Bracewell & Giuliani:
http://www.bracewellgiuliani.com/index.cfm/fa/lawyer.profile/attorney/d77551aa-3106-4b0a-9319-b99bc0b27eb4/Kristin_A_McLaurin.cfm
Bernie Kerik, from Giuliani Partners, is the one that oversaw a $50 million police-training contract for the defense contractor DynCorp.
Kerik spent $1.2 billion to train 35,000 troops in Jordan even though France and Germany offered to provide training for free. He also bought $20 million worth of rifles and revolvers from Jordan when the weapons could’ve been obtained for far less in Iraq.
Kerik hired Iraqi policemen without background checks who later turned out to be hardened criminals. He re-hired policeman formerly employed by Saddam Hussein and bragged of training 37,000 new officers.
More:
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/outrage?pid=2058
Check this thread again. It gets worse.
That’s our government. Night-time, back-door deals and bill introductions. Sleaze-balls every damn one of them.
I would prefer a stocked mote.
http://infowars.com/articles/ps/dyncorp_slave_ring_state_dept_cant_account_for_billion_paid_to_dyncorp.htm
State Dept. Can't Account For $1.2B Paid to DynCorp: Audit
Excerpt:
The contract gave DynCorp the job of building police training facilities and deploying hundreds of police trainers to instruct a new Iraqi police force.
Developing a police force was considered central to stabilizing Iraq, but the effort, led first by the State Department and then by the Defense Department, has been criticized by administration opponents as well as by the bipartisan commission on the war led by James A. Baker III and Lee H. Hamilton.
The State Department said it had improved monitoring of DynCorp, but in a letter to auditors department officials said that it would still take �three to five years� to reconcile fully the payments made to the company during the first two years of the training contract, beginning in February 2004.
As a sign of the confusion, the State Department reported to auditors that as part of its work in Iraq, DynCorp had purchased a $1.8 million X-ray scanner that was never used and spent $387,000 to house company officials in hotels rather than in existing living facilities.
Then, later, the State Department said those costs were actually incurred in Afghanistan, according to the audit. State Department officials say they have always said the spending occurred in Afghanistan.
(snip)
A review of DynCorp's spending over the past year identified $29 million in overcharges by DynCorp, including $108,000 in business travel, according to a State Department letter in response to Mr. Bowen's auditors. A separate review by the Defense Contracting Audit Agency found that DynCorp had billed for $162,869 of labor hours �for which it did not pay its workers.
Gregory Lagana, a DynCorp spokesman, said the amounts involved were small fractions of the $1.2 billion paid to DynCorp since 2004. He said that if DynCorp filed an erroneous charge the company would reimburse it, adding that DynCorp had already reimbursed the State Department for $72,000.
There was no intentional misbilling, Mr. Lagana said. It could be just a documents problem. He said that the company initially struggled with some record-keeping, but that it had informed the government whenever it found errors. We fully acknowledge that we have some problems with invoicing, he said. It's something we're working really hard to clean up.
(snip)
And Boeing contracts out their IT work to them now through Computer Sciences Corp.
This is who our Border Fence contract went to? I hope not.
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth.....
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government,
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