FreedomTalks

Today on a conference call, House leaders Dennis Hastert, John Boehner and Roy Blunt discussed the President’s signing of the Border Fence Act of 2006.

As Congressional Quarterly reported today, “The measure (HR 6061) also authorizes a “virtual fence” of sensors, cameras, pilotless aircraft and other surveillance technology. It was passed by the House Sept. 14 and cleared the Senate Sept. 29.”

House leaders noted on the call that the fence will be 700 miles long and that the rest of the border will feature a virtual fence.  The House leadership said that the crime of tunnelling under the fence is now a felony, instead of a lesser crime. They also argued that all of the Democrats that voted for the bill are in hotly contested races this fall.

The House leaders claim that incursions across the border are down 40% and that the funding for National Guard efforts along the border has increased substantially.

The Democratic leadership responded today in a press release.

“This morning, the President plans to sign legislation authorizing a 700-mile border fence that his own Administration does not plan to build and for which the Republican Congress has not provided construction money.  This fence that will not actually be built is a perfect symbol of the Republicans’ unwillingness to make controlling our borders a priority.” 

 

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 26th, 2006 at 4:09 pm and is filed under Property Rights, States, Trade, U.S. Budget. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.