Patrick Leahy: “for those of us who have served in the Senate for the past 5 years, the irony of the amendments before us today is…”

“for those of us who have served in the Senate for the past 5 years, the irony of the amendments before us today is inescapable. Had the Bush administration fulfilled its promises over those years and lived up to its rhetoric about bolstering our Nation's border security, there would be no need for the emergency supplemental spending amendments proposed by the distinguished chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee and the Democratic leader. The administration's failure on this front has not gone unnoticed. In December of 2005, the 9/11 Commission's Report Card gave the Bush administration a `D' grade for its efforts on border security, and specifically, for its failures in fostering international collaboration to improve border security. This is particularly disappointing in light of the grandiose statements in February 2001 in which the President heralded a new era of cooperation with President Vicente Fox on immigration and border issues. For all its talk and swagger about security, the Bush-Cheney administration has not lived up to its public promises. Just last month we heard about nuclear material being successfully smuggled across our borders in a sting operation. Not long after that bombshell, a U.S.…”