Jon Kyl: “That is right. Senator Feinstein and I got an amendment passed in 1996 to double the number of Border Patrol agents. It…”

“That is right. Senator Feinstein and I got an amendment passed in 1996 to double the number of Border Patrol agents. It passed the Judiciary Committee, passed the Congress. It is an authorization. Do you think that in 5 years we had double the Border Patrol agents? No. We couldn't get the administration to ask for enough funding in the budget, and, of course, if it is not asked for, then Congress is loathe to appropriate. So it took us about, as I recall, 7 years or maybe 8 years to get the number of agents doubled. We have succeeded in doubling them and adding another 2,000 or 3,000 on top of that. But it took far longer than it should have. We have authorized SCAAP--the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program--that reimburses the jails and prisons in your State, my State, and other States for the criminal aliens housed in those prisons. The program is authorized. This administration this year requested in the budget exactly how much money for this program? Zero, nothing; same as last year. Congress had to find the money. And we ended up appropriating about $300 million, which is less than half of what we should have. Had we done $700 million, we would have reimbursed the States about one-third of their expenses. We only did $305 million, as I recall.”