Good grief...for people who claim knowledge of the Constitution this is a situation where they look foolish. Surely they know that Bush does not "appropriate funds", Congress does.
June 15, 2007 - WASHINGTON – House Democrats voted down legislation offered by Congressman Jerry Lewis Friday to require full funding for 854 miles of double fencing and other security measures that were mandated in the Secure Fence Act passed by Congress last year. Lewis criticized the vote as undermining efforts to provide real security to the nation’s Southern border.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) has provided an early indication that the new Democratic congressional leadership is prepared to abandon all pretense of enforcing U.S. immigration laws and our borders, warns the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). In a statement Tuesday, Hoyer declared that construction of the 700-mile security fence approved by Congress last fall is unlikely to receive the funding necessary to move forward. Instead, Hoyer vaguely referred to "other ways" that Congress would look into dealing with illegal immigration and securing the nation against terrorist infiltration.
Past statements by the Democratic leadership indicate that their approach to dealing with illegal immigration would include another massive illegal alien amnesty program and another set of vague promises to enforce immigration laws in the future. Democrats, who have repeatedly excoriated the Bush administration for its failure to bring America's borders under control and for failing to take necessary steps to secure the nation against future terrorist attacks, now appear prepared to scuttle the one real initiative that has been put forth to end the dangerous and chaotic situation that exists along the southern border.
Democrats Indicate That They Are Ready to Backtrack on Border Fence, Warns FAIR
And puhleeeeze don't anyone say he could do it if he wanted...or it's back to Civics 101 for you. And yes, what y'all call the amnesty bill was a farce, but the fence issue is being held up by the Dems, Bush signed the bill approving the fence and also gave Chertoff permission to waive environmental regulations that were also holding it up. Yes,...let's DO put the blame where it belongs...on Congress.
First DHS has more than a billion dollars to build the fence. I don't see the WH or Chertoff demanding more money for the fence or the President using the bully pulpit to urge Congress to provide whatever funding is required to get our borders secured asap. The national guard boost was just a photo op. There is no sense of urgency. Chertoff mentioned recently that we won't have the border secured until 2013.
Last year, when we had a Rep controlled Congress, the House passed an enforcement first bill, H R 4437, but the WH walked away from it. Sensenbrenner: Bush Turned Back on Bill --We worked very closely with White House in the fall in putting together the border security bill that the House passed," he said. "... What we heard in November and December, he seems to be going in the opposite direction in May. That is really at the crux of this irritation," he said of Bush.
The point is that the WH doesn't favor the fence and has held it hostage to comprehensive immigration reform. There is no reason for such linkage, especially after 9/11. You can make all the excuses you want for Bush, but the buck stops in the WH.