What was proposed was to raise the airline fee. which everybody knew was not going to be done. It was a plug number. So even though they sent up a budget number to increase the Border Patrol agents by 1.500 and the beds by about 6.000. as a practical matter. it would be very hard for us to do that with the numbers they sent up to back up those commitments. but at least the commitment was there. As the chairman of that appropriations subcommittee. it put me in a very difficult position because basically I have to go out and find that $1.2 billion to fill that hole. to get the additional funding to get those agents. which we wanted to do or had intended to do. That means I have to convince the Chairman of the committee. Senator COCHRAN. to take money from some other subcommittee in order to do that within the confines of the budgetobviously a challenge to Senator COCHRAN and clearly a position he shouldnt have been put in. but he has been. as have I. Now. because of the fact that. as we looked hard at the border patrol issue and the securing of the border issue. it became very apparent that not only were boots on the ground an issue but actual physical capital assets were a huge issuefor example. the planes that are flown by the Customs Department. the Customs agents. are 30 to 40 years old and 20 years past their useful life. The helicopters being flown by the Border Patrol agents are 20 years past their useful life. The Coast Guard has a fleet which is very aged and which is not fast. They have one or two planes that are up to snuff. but most of their planes need to be refurbished.
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