Posted on 07/14/2006 5:42:08 AM PDT by kellynla
Less than two months after voting overwhelmingly to build 370 miles of new fencing along the border with Mexico, the Senate yesterday voted against providing funds to build it.
"We do a lot of talking. We do a lot of legislating," said Sen. Jeff Sessions, the Alabama Republican whose amendment to fund the fence was killed on a 71-29 vote. "The things we do often sound very good, but we never quite get there."
Mr. Sessions offered his amendment to authorize $1.8 billion to pay for the fencing that the Senate voted 83-16 to build along high-traffic areas of the border with Mexico. In the same vote on May 17, the Senate also directed 500 miles of vehicle barriers to be built along the border.
But the May vote simply authorized the fencing and vehicle barriers, which on Capitol Hill is a different matter from approving the federal expenditures needed to build it.
"If we never appropriate the money needed to construct these miles of fencing and vehicle barriers, those miles of fencing and vehicle barriers will never actually be constructed," Mr. Sessions told his colleagues yesterday before the vote.
Virtually all Democrats were joined by the chamber's lone independent and 28 Republicans in opposing Mr. Session's amendment to the Homeland Security Appropriations Act. Only two Democrats -- Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Thomas R. Carper of Delaware -- supported funding the fence.
All told, 34 senators -- including most of the Republican leadership -- voted in May to build the fence but yesterday opposed funding it.
The overall bill, which appropriates more than $32 billion to the Homeland Security Department, including $2.2 billion for border security and control, passed on a 100-0 vote last night.
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
I saw a political TV commercial today by Jim Gerlach, a moderate pubbie in the Philly suburbs - and HE was running against Bush's guest worker program. That just shows how bad that idea is.
What a bunch of globalist crooks.
yea, yea, yea...
bottom line, these clowns couldn't get their act together to do what should have been done years ago.
but you keep making excuses for their incompetence while those of us who actually pay taxes around here pick up the FIFTY BILLION DOLLAR A YEAR tab for allowing illegals to stay here.
I think we are talking about two different bills ~ the first one had the clause about checking with the Mexicans on the fence, and the second one is a much shorter bill which merely funds the fence (if it ever gets approved).
Fear of a wall as a "symbol" makes no sense to me. At a time when we fully support free trade in the world, when we support the spread of democracy and have put our own resources on the line in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, South Korea, Taiwan, at a time when we send huge amounts of foreign aid to less fortunate countries, at a time when terrorists are devastating cities around the world...we are going to fear protecting ourselves with a wall because it's a bad symbol? Please, stupidity is bad symbol too. I don't leave my front door wide open because I don't want my home to become a crack house despite having a welcome mat.
Nonsense. A fence to keep people in is a symbol of oppression. A fence to keep unwanted people out, whether along the border or along your back yard, is an expression of sovereignty.
What is the purpose of the front door in your house?
Is it to lock your family in or to keep unwanted people out.
Until we have better regulation regarding immigration, the fence is the best deal around.
Perhaps instead of the wall we should do what Mexico does on their Southern border. They slaughter Guatemalans, Costa Ricans, etc...caught trying to cross. I've yet to hear any left wing organization criticize them-it must be OK.
If drug dealers, human traffickers and criminals lived next door to you would you put up a fence to protect your family and property?
Let me guess...Snowe, Collins, Chaffee, Specter...
oh, I read the piece, thank you
but you like others around here can make all the excuses you like for the Senate's incompetence and the failure of the Bush administration to secure the borders and enforce the immigration laws 'cause come November & 2008 those of us who actually pay the bills around here are going to give the GOP a rude awakening!
Hey, doesn't bother me if we ship ALL the illegals and their spawn back 3 generations to their own, native homelands where they would be much more comfortable than living here surrounded by "rednecks" and "rough Negro youths" who say things offensive to their delicate ears.
Or, maybe even 4 or 5 generations.
And 7 or 8 probably wouldn't bother me, or even 10 ~ 15 probably.
's OK?
At the moment I'm simply supporting the idea that $1.8 billion for an adequate fence (along all, most or critical parts) on the border is a good idea that should be funded, but I'll ramp it up in a sec if you want.
dewine, voinovich....
As long as you make things better with your "rude awakening" because those of us who also pay the bill will be pissed if you just make things worse.
"What a bunch of globalist crooks."
yep, and it appears that we have a few here at FR.
Not having read the detail of the amendment for appropriating the funds, I'm not willing to argue the point that the "fence" described in the original bill is the same as the "fence" described in the appropriations amendment. They could be different. They could be the same. Without more information the point cannot be debated, nor should it. The issue here is the apparant double-cross where some Senators vote for the fence but end up voting against building it.
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