On the recordAugust 5, 2010
I would remind my colleague that just this morning he voted to use $1.5 billion in stimulus funds for the DOE Loan Guarantee Program. One of the problems, as you know, is we have had this catch and release, or even catch and take to another part of the United States and put them across the border. So we seem to have these repeat crossers. The experience that we have had, and the people down there will tell you about, is keeping these people incarcerated for a period of time--and it isn't just everybody who comes across, it is somebody who has committed a petty crime, a misdemeanor, et cetera--we have found those individuals do not return or are much less likely to do so. So I say to the Senator from New York, there is no fence money in here, and we would have liked to have seen that. We need to complete and reinforce the fence. We want 3,000 officers down on the border, but the bill has 1,200, which is certainly a major step forward. And there is 1,000 Border Patrol. We think we need as many as 3,000, as I mentioned. But I think this $600 million is important.
