Arizona’s two GOP senators rolled out legislation Thursday night that looked nearly identical to a House-passed bill to boost funding for more manpower, technology and other resources along the southwest border.
The only difference is how they want to pay for it.
Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl say their $701 million proposal is funded with unused stimulus money and $100 million from “virtual fence” funding that was frozen this year by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
The House plan, which was sent to the Senate after it passed Wednesday night, calls for $200 million in cuts to offset costs and another $500 million in emergency funding, which adds to the federal deficit.
The rival proposals emerged after Senate Republicans stripped hundreds of millions of dollars for border security from a massive bill paying for the troop surge in Afghanistan. Some were concerned with deficit spending; others objected to attaching domestic spending to funding for military operations abroad.
Among other things, the border security bills would fund 1,200 additional Border Patrol agents and 500 more Customs and Border Protection officers at ports of entry; three new border-enforcement bases; two unmanned aircraft; and additional investigations and surveillance of drug and human traffickers by the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration.
“The legislation we introduced today will provide additional resources to help gain control of our border, without impacting our nation’s deficit,” McCain and Kyl said in a joint statement Thursday. “It is our hope that Democratic majority will swiftly work with us to ensure passage of this bill.”
A day earlier, House Democrats rallied behind their proposal, challenging Republicans to back up their calls for increased border security.
“When it comes to voting for these kinds of legislative packages, their votes are not there,” Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas), who represents the El Paso area. “We hear a lot of talk but it’s time for those on the other side of the aisle to do some walking and carrying their share of the load.”
Rep. David Price (D-N.C.), chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on Homeland Security who introduced the bill, called the trafficking and violence on the border “an emergency.”
“We consider our challenge on the southwest border as important as our military’s work to secure Afghanistan from the Taliban and promote stability in Iraq,” he said. “In fact, some would argue it’s more important.”
In the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector, Arizona authorities arrested 242,000 illegal immigrants and seized 1.3 million pounds of marijuana last year, said Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who introduced the measure with Price.
“This is ground zero for this problem,” she said. “The BP oil spill situation in our district is this problem we have with the smuggling of illegal immigrants and the smuggling of drugs.”
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