The Senate Passes $3 Billion in Emergency Funds for Border Security

Of course, keep in mind, that HR 2638 will still need to be agreed to by the House and signed by President, but the extra $3 billion for border security is a step in the right direction.  Securing the border is the first step that our leaders must take to show the nation that they are serious in their efforts to choke off illegal immigration.  

Whether this is just more smoke and mirrors or the realization in Washington that the dreams of amnesty are dead will only only be determined by a substantial decrease in illegal immigration.  CQ has the story:

After a flurry of negotiations, the Senate on Thursday agreed to add $3 billion in emergency border security funding to the fiscal 2008 homeland security spending bill, drawing Congress closer to a confrontation with the president over the level of funding in the bill.

The amendment, offered by Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was adopted by 89-1.

The Senate was moving toward passage by late Thursday or Friday a $37.6 billion spending bill (HR 2638) that exceeds President Bush’s request by $2.3 billion and would provide $177 million more than the House-passed version. The White House on Wednesday threatened to veto the bill in its current form because of what it characterized as excessive spending.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, worked out an agreement that led to adoption of the Graham amendment.

Graham said the $3 billion in emergency spending would fund an additional 23,000 Border Patrol agents, 300 miles of vehicle barriers, 105 ground-based radar cameras in the desert and completion of the 700 miles of physical border fencing authorized by Congress last year .

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