Posted on 09/29/2006 7:40:28 PM PDT by The Spirit Of Allegiance
Edited on 09/29/2006 7:52:46 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
The House version of the bill approving and funding the building of a U.S./Mexico border wall has overwhelmingly passed the Senate, according to KFI News.
Link to station provided.
UPDATE: Senate backs fence along Mexico border
Reuters
By Donna Smith and Richard Cowan
The U.S. Senate on Friday overwhelmingly agreed to authorize construction of a fence along the U.S. border with Mexico, sending to President George W. Bush before the November 7 elections a bill that Republicans hope will showcase their efforts to stop illegal immigration.
The Republican-written bill authorizing construction of about 700 miles of fence was one of the last bills to clear Congress as lawmakers prepared to leave Washington to campaign for the congressional elections. On a vote of 80-19 the Senate approved the bill already passed by the House of Representatives and it now goes to Bush for his signature.
Bush had sought broad immigration legislation that would create a guest-worker program to help provide a steady workforce for jobs Americans are either unable or unwilling to do. But he was unable to marshal support for it in the face of opposition from a solid group of House Republicans who pushed for tougher enforcement and border measures instead.
A separate bill approved by the House on Friday provided an initial $1.2 billion in funding for the fence and other border-security measures for the fiscal year that begins Oct 1. The money is part of a $34.8 billion bill for domestic security programs for the fiscal year that begins October 1.
The broad spending bill also criminalizes the construction of tunnels that could be secret passageways from Mexico or Canada for drug smugglers, illegal aliens or terrorists.
The Senate was expected to pass the funding bill quickly and send it on to Bush along with the fence authorization.
Opponents of the fence said it would be expensive and was not an effective deterrent to illegal immigration.
"This is a political gimmick," said Sen. Ken Salazar, a Democrat from Colorado. "It is not in the long-term interest of of the United States of America and the Western Hemisphere."
The government of Mexico on Thursday issued a statement expressing "its profound concern" with the fence. The statement, translated from Spanish, said such measures "are contrary to the spirit of cooperation that should prevail to guarantee security in the common border."
IMMIGRATION OVERHAUL
Backers of the fence said it was an important tool to clamp down against illegal immigration. An estimated 1.2 million illegal immigrants were arrested in the last fiscal year trying to cross into the United States along the border states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. Sections of the fence would be built in each state.
"Fortifying our borders is the first prong of comprehensive immigration reform and it's an integral piece of national security," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican.
Lawmakers and analysts say Congress could tackle comprehensive immigration legislation in a post-election sessions, but they acknowledge difficulties.
"It will be tough but doable," said Rep. Adam Putnam (news, bio, voting record), a Florida Republican.
"There is a lot of pent up pressure and interest in doing something in the lame duck session," said Craig Regelbrugge of the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform.
Democrats accused the Republican majority of playing politics with the fence bill after raising immigration as an election-year issue but having little to show in the way of legislation.
"This is about November. This is about incumbent protection, not about border protection," said Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
Earlier this year the Senate passed broad immigration legislation that combined border security and employer sanctions with a plan to create a guest-worker program and provide a path to citizenship for many of the 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States.
The Senate and House were unable to compromise and instead resorted to passing a series narrow border security measures.
No problem, it happens to all of us from time to time.
How did we "take" Texas from Mexico? Did we just go in and occupy it? Did we invade and drive the Mexicans out?
Salazar sounds like he is an agent for a foreign government.
Well, let's see.
Conservatives wanted Bush's bill on military tribunals passed rather then McCain's "get a terrorist out of Jail Free Card" bill passed.
We got Bush's bill.
Conservatives wanted a fence to enforce our soveriegnty as a nation AND try to decrease the avenues for terrorists to sneak through.
We might have just gotten our fence WITH funding to follow shortly.
Bad week for conservatives? O-Kay. I'll take more bad weeks then.
It beats all the damn "great" weeks we had when McCain got his Al Quida Bill of Rights passed and the kennedy/McCain bill sailed through.
Certainly this isn't the end of this. I want to make sure that fence is built, and we need to start enforcing our laws WITHIN the borders as well. But it's a start. And if it is as it appears to be at this moment based on the 19 against and the "concerns" of the mexican government? The GOP just secured my help the next month in retaining and maybe increasing the majority. I'll restrain the cynisism long enough to help build them good momentum in the final stretch.
That's great to hear. I'm not familiar with the terrain down there. Out of such a long border, 700 miles didn't seem like enough, but I didn't take into account terrain and other factors.
I did see the last 3/4'ths of it. Fortunately the History Channel usually repeats its programming, so I'll set up the cable box to record the next airing of it at 11:00 pm CDT which is about 21 minutes from now.
We responded militarily and a war was fought over it, with the result being the Mexicans lost. We occupied their capitol and they ultimately signed a treaty agreeing to the US border being estanlished where it is, and the US government compensated them (as you point out) for some lands lost as a result.
They have no claim to any of that land now, it has been purchased in blood and treasure...and will ultiamtely have to be held using the same currency.
Kennedy has nothing to loose, Lieberman is who he is no matter what he pretends. NJ probably heavily Union influenced and Hawaii probably could care less.
You mean Mexico isn`t going to build a fence on their land to keep Americans out? Wow, thats real news.
The WH was pushing for a comprehensive immigration bill including a guest worker program. The Senate [the Reps voted against it 32-23] passed the WH/Dem bill [Martinez/Hagel] and was against an enforcement first bill similar to the one passed in the House. It was the Senate Dems and RINOs who blinked. The Conservatives in the House and Senate won. Such a fence bill would not have been introduced immediately after 9/11.
I think he is totally demoralized with the Republican gay congressman who resigned today because of his scandal with the 16 year old male.
Good, it's a reasonable start.
700 miles down, roughly 1,300 miles to go.
All in all not a bad start.
L
Now, that's funny!!!
Excellent post.
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