We still have serious gaps in air cargo security. This bill makes no real headway in closing them. and port security grant funding is also lower than I would like to see. This bill does not fund all of the additional border patrol agents and detention beds called for in the Presidents February budget requesl. Since his speech last week. we are still trying to understand the new initiativesand the coststhat the President proposes. You can be sure. however. that the price tag for meaningful border security and immigration services and enforcement will be very steep. It will be far more than the roughly $19.4 billion in this bill (9 percent above 2006) that is attributed to border security and immigration. As an example. individuals in my districtand I suspect yourshave waited more than 2 years for the federal government to run security name checks to process their immigration paperwork. These people are doing things legally. As far as I can tell. the funding the President proposes in his new plan wont address this issue. I can only imagine the size of the backlog that would be created by his plan or other significant changes in immigration law. I make these observations not to criticize the Chairman. I simply want to clarify for Members that even though this bill increases homeland security funding. it does not get us where we need to be in protecting the nation.
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border security border patrol immigration