7:46 p.m., Thursday, August 5, 2010
The Senate http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/senate/ on Thursday
voted to hire 1,000 more U.S. Border Patrol agents as part of a $600 million
border security bill, acting swiftly in the hours before they left to face
constituents during their five-week summer vacation.
Sen. Charles E. http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/charles-e-schumer/
Schumer, the New York Democrat who is spearheading his party's immigration
efforts, said the money shows Congress
http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/congress/ is committed to border
security as a down payment on eventually legalizing illegal immigrants.
"I'm for comprehensive immigration reform. I think that's the way to go. And
I'm continuing to work on it," Mr. Schumer
http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/charles-e-schumer/ said. "But we've
always said we should do border security first. This is border security
first."
The money would come from charging higher fees on worker visas for companies
whose staffs are made up of mostly foreign workers.
Republicans, led by Sen. John McCain
http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/john-mccain/ , had offered their own
proposals which would deploy more agents to the border and expand detention
of illegal border crossers, but Mr. McCain
http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/john-mccain/ said Mr. Schumer
http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/charles-e-schumer/ 's bill was "a
significant step forward."
President Obama http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/barack-obama/ 's
original budget request for the upcoming fiscal year actually called for
cutting the number of border patrol agents, but facing pressure from
Democrats and Republicans he requested the $600 million in new spending,
including the new agents. Mr. Obama
http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/barack-obama/ has also begun to
deploy up to 1,200 National Guard troops to the border to help in the
interim, while the new agents are being hired.
Immigrant-rights advocates on Thursday said the extra spending is a straw
man, and said Democrats are being baited by Republicans.
"It is extremely disappointing to see Congress
http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/congress/ fall for Republicans'
wholly manufactured allegations of an insecure border," said Deepak
Bhargava, executive director of the Center for Community Change, who said
the border is safer than ever before.
The bill took a fast track to passage. Mr. Schumer
http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/charles-e-schumer/ introduced it,
along with Sen. Claire McCaskill, earlier in the day, and it passed later in
the evening by unanimous consent, which means no senator objected.
Republicans' agreement seemed to take Democrats by surprise.
Immigration has heated up in recent months as drug violence on the border
has gained attention, and polls show voters want the government to take
action.
The bill still must pass the House, where lawmakers earlier this year passed
the money as part of a broader war-spending bill, only to see it stripped
out by the Senate http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/senate/ .
But the House is coming back from their own six-week summer break for a
special session next week to consider a $26 billion bill to fund teacher
jobs and states for health care costs, and it's possible they could consider
the border security money at that time
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