To presume that we can now revisit that in the $9 billion NussleKasich amendment and do what was intended then is a big mistake. Often. unintended consequences get in the way. For example. in an area that is of great concern to a lot of my colleagues--controlling our borderswithin the proposal that is before us there is a cut of $45.1 million which was appropriated for the Border Patrol in the 1994 appropriations budget process. That would have filled 581 new positions on the Border Patrol. The combination of new and redeployed agents will result in the presence of 620 additional Border Patrol agents on the line. INS plans to deploy 350 new agents as a result of that process. Attorney General Reno intends to announce tomorrow an enhancement of $368 million in the same area. and $300 million will be used to strengthen the Border Patrol. If the NussloKasich package is implemented. the rescissions proposed in that package will result in at least the following additional FTE cuts above and beyond those already planned: FBI agents. 329 positions gone. DEA. 91 positions. INS. 174 positions. Because the rescission will come 6 months into the fiscal year. reductionsinforce will be impractical. In order to achieve this level of FTE reductions. the Justice Department will be forced to implement massive furloughs. resulting in disruption in the whole process regarding Border Patrol efforts. The Department of Justice will be unable to implement any of the enhancements provided for them in this Border Patrol planning. The whole point is that the way you implement this does the wrong thing in the wrong place at the wrong time. While we speak of innocuous cuts. this unintended consequence is anything but.
Keywords matched
Border Patrol