Did you miss the part that said this was referring to a "railroad across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec?" In what way is that related to building the border fence.
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.
I have no idea but I doubt it.
Did you miss the part that said this was referring to a "railroad across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec?" In what way is that related to building the border fence.
NAYs ---19
Akaka (D-HI)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Chafee (R-RI)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Inouye (D-HI)
Jeffords (I-VT)
Kerry (D-MA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (D-CT)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Murray (D-WA)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Sarbanes (D-MD)
Not Voting - 1
Kennedy (D-MA)
Take your pick -- are these folks feckless imbeciles, the disloyal opposition, the enemy within, America hating traitors, power mad a$$holes or all the above?
Semper Fi
"" Says who?....Woodward???? ""
I'm so sick of that arrogant bag of wind. I hope his latest book tanks. His head is so big it's ready to explode.
YAY!!!!!!!
If there's a place that needs a fence, it is Laredo. :/ I suspect the majority of illegals that have commited violent crimes in this country came here through Laredo. That place is a cess pit.
Only an open border will please you, huh?
"We"? How old are you?
No. We just can't understand why supposed Americans are so willing to let illegals invade our country and suplant our culture with a third world culture.
Damn crybabies!!!!!
Nobody's that stupid.
I misunderstood your post, too.
Up yours, Vicente!
/s/
"I just posted this on another thread; it fits here too:
I'll tell you what, IMO, has taken place. A deal has been cut with the House/Senate and the White House. Bush will not veto this bill, as the deal is when Congress reconvenes, following the November elections, the Pubs, assuming they maintain control in the House and Senate, will then fashion a "temporary visitor's program" and pass the bill which Bush will, of course, then sign. They may even try to go for an amnesty measure, as no one at that point will have to worry about re-election for two years in the House, and only some in the Senate will have to worry. Thus, Bush will shortly get what he wants, and if the Dems win in the mid-term election, Bush will get ALL that he wants on immigration, as the Dems will stall funding or de-fund the 700 mile fence, will pass an amnesty bill, along with a guest worker bill, and will leave the floodgates on the border open (got to get more Dem voters, you know, legal or illegal). Either way, a win win for Bush, and he knows it. The truth of the matter."
SPOT ON and thank you for being about the first to say so! IMO cause for celebration is very premature on this. Why? I take Bush at his word and I do not believe that for a single moment, he has backed off from this position or that Rove suddenly regrets pandering to LaRaza:
"To secure our border we MUST create a temporary worker program that provides foreign workers a legal and orderly way to enter our country for a limited period of time," Bush said.
"But people in this debate MUST recognize that we will NOT be able to effectively enforce our immigration laws until we create a temporary-worker program." GWB
“This creates enormous pressure on our border that walls and patrols alone will NOT stop. To secure the border effectively we MUST reduce the numbers of people trying to sneak across," the president said.
"An immigration reform bill needs to be comprehensive," the president advised Congress in his speech, "because all elements of this problem MUST be addressed together, or NONE of them will be solved at all."
Instead, they have just found another way to go about getting it!
I also do not think for one moment that all of those Senators from both parties who voted against the Isakson Amendment to Senate 2611, Border Security first, BEFORE guest worker/amnesty, have suddenly changed their minds.
There was no 'wake up' call here. There's just more to the story and we aren't seeing it. Had national security/securing of our borders taken precedence over the OBL/SPP/NAU agenda, our borders would have been secured 5 years ago, on 9/12, hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants and their supports would not have been permitted to shut down major cities in protests across the country, and our immigration laws would be being enforced.
That's my take on things. Time will tell, but what I see happening is 'virtual' border security with a 'virtual' fence (if any at all) in exchange for guestworker/amnesty.
Too bad the president didn't have a damn thing to do with the bill for this wall being passed.
Too bad this bill for a wall to protect the U.S. Taxpayers had to be passed IN SPITE of this president's efforts against it.
Yes, it's too, too bad.
The laugh's on him.
He's powerless to stop it.
The wall's going up without his or Karl Rove's approval.
That's just too, too bad.
Oh, Vicente may never speak to him again. Wahhh!
LOL!
Do you feel better now?
This makes perfect sense.
1. We're gonna build a fence.
2. We're gonna build a highway from Mexico ti Canada.
3. We are pursuing a EU type deal with Mexico and Canada.
It's the Twilight Zone!!
Gracias, Amigo Viejo.
LOL!
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