Jon Kyl: “I will speak to the underlying bill for a moment. I find it interesting in debating this Homeland Security…”

“I will speak to the underlying bill for a moment. I find it interesting in debating this Homeland Security appropriations bill, there have been many colleagues come to the floor expressing the intention to amend the bill to add more resources here or there or someplace else. I think it is instructive that the chairman of this subcommittee has this year determined it is beyond the time that we need to begin fully funding some of the particular accounts that enable us to better control our border and that my colleagues are now coming, I suggest in the case of some later than I would like, but at least to the realization that we have not begun to put the resources to controlling our border and some of our other homeland areas of need that we should have. This is a good development in the sense that we are finally beginning to realize we have not done what we should do. But I am troubled a little bit that there still is not adequate funding available to do everything we need to do on the border that I am concerned about, and that is our southwest border. Compliments to the subcommittee and to the Appropriations Committee for substantially increasing the funding for more Border Patrol agents, for more detention space for people whom we have to detain who should not be in the United States and who cannot be returned to their country of origin immediately, for the technology which is funded here, and for all the other things we are trying to do to secure our border.…”