Mr. President. the Ensign amendment would codify the Presidents proposal to deploy the National Guard to the border. The Presidents proposal strikes a careful balance. Over the next year. they would send up to 6.000 guardsmen. The following year. they would decrease this to a maximum of 3.000 guardsmen. As the guardsmen stand down. the Border Patrol would stand up. and in the end. we would have 6.000 more Border Patrolmen securing the border. I remain concerned about the strain on the Guard. It is reassuring that the deployment will be limited in number and duration. I hope the administration will work closely with the Pentagon to ensure that we are not putting greater strain on those specialties that are needed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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Border Patrol