Posted on 09/20/2006 6:28:08 AM PDT by laotzu
WASHINGTON - A Senate plan to build 700 miles of border fencing hit a snag Tuesday when Texas' senators said the Department of Homeland Security and border communities — not Congress — should decide where the fence is built.
The objections by Republican Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn complicated plans by Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., to win passage this week of a bill intended to showcase to voters the GOP's commitment to border security. The House passed an identical fencing bill last week, with specific locations for the fence, such as a segment from Laredo to Brownsville.
"I don't want Congress mandating where fences go," Hutchison said. "We have done a lot and we're going to continue to work on border security, but we have to let the department put the resources where they are most needed."
Cornyn agreed about the barrier along the Mexico border.
"For Washington to try to dictate to places like Laredo, Texas, exactly where fences need to be built is, to my mind, ludicrous," he said.
Homeland Security officials are best positioned to determine how to deploy a mix of fences, electronic surveillance, Border Patrol agents and unmanned aerial vehicles, said Cornyn, who chairs the Senate immigration subcommittee.
The possibility that other senators would add sweeping amendments to the bill further clouded its prospects.
Some Republicans worried that Democrats would try to attach a broader immigration package that would create a guest-worker program and let illegal immigrants work toward citizenship.
Also, Republicans eager to help agribusiness interests that are struggling to find workers might try to tack on an agricultural guest-worker program, according to Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
Frist defended his effort to pass a border-security bill that fell short of President Bush's demand for a comprehensive immigration overhaul.
"I'm faced with the reality that I have about six more legislative days in this Congress before the elections," Frist said on CNN. "I look at it as a border security first, not border security only."
I'm not sure I understand the Republican strategy this campaign season.
We could always fence off Texas along with Mexico. Suppose that would make the Senators happy?
I don't think they have a unified strategy. Each seems to go his/her way.
I've been urging this along the Red River for a while....with the spikes/electricity on the Oklahoma side.
I'd rather fence off New York state.
Yeah, yeah. Whatever to delay the fence. Vote for the fence. Vote against the fence funding. Argue over who decides where to put it. Approve more BP positions. Don't fill those BP positions. Call any citizen trying to protect the border a vigilante. Take ranches away from US landowners and give them to illegals. Hold rallies with thousands of illegals and ICE is no where to be found. Catch and release. Whatever.
Hmmm...I thought somewhere along the border would be a good place.
I'm starting to think an IQ test should be required of people running for public office. (And sometimes, I think the same should be required before you can enter a voting booth.)
Time to sent my senators a nasty gram.
How about a fence from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean? That sounds like a good location.
"I'd rather fence off New York state."
Don't forget MA, CT, RI and Maine. But wait until I leave the area .....
The Senators in Texas don't want the wrath of the minority voters there.
So pawn it off the DHS.
Better solution is just fence off the entire Texas border. Everyone wins.
If you're an illegal and caught, the BP gives you a free, 2" high tatoo of the letter "I" (i.e., "illegal") on your forehead and takes you back to the border as part of the catch-and-release program. However, if you get caught with the letter "I" on your forehead, you're fair game. I might be cheaper than a fence and perhaps more effective.
How's that for PC'ness?
I thought that border security was a federal responsibility.
I don't get it.I mean supposedly they "sealed" up the border with some Nat'l Guard units armed with whistle's and few hundred more border police so who needs a fence ???
How about this: For places like Laredo, Texas, to dictate exactly where the border is between the U.S. and Mexico is, to my mind, ludicrous.
If I remember my civics correctly, Laredo would get to dictate what day the garbage will be picked up in Laredo, and Congress agrees to stay out of that decision unless absolutely necessary.
Huh. Usually these two vote on things I support. I wonder what's up. I would like to hear more about their concerns before bringing them home. This other attaching stuff is garbage though. Too many people wanting to make the bill, their bill.
It's easy to understand when you realize they are RINOs not wanting to miss out on the illegal vote.
There isn't one. The "open borders" Republicans are at war with the "homeland security" Republicans. Hutchinson and Cornyn are both "open borders" idiots. Shame on'em both.
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