The bill also cuts State and local domestic preparedness grants by $585 million (19 percent) and Urban Area Security Initiative grants by $270 million (26 percent) below FY 2005 levels. Funding for communications equipment for first responders is cut from the levels in the bill the House passed in May. before Katrina struckfrom $27 million to $15 million. The bill does provide additional funding for border patrol. but the number of agents still falls 1.000 short of the 2.000 called for in the Intelligence Reform bill. Since September 11th. just 965 additional border patrol agents have been hired--less than a 10 percent increase in 4 years. The conference report fails to provide much more than basic funding for the security of rail and public transportation systems because DHS has not yet spent funds it was allocated last year. Despite the fact that passenger rail in the U.S. carries about five times as many 51.
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border patrol