Speech #1090144113

By putting in place this deeming resolution 873. we are asserting we are going to be aggressive to try to control the rate of growth on the discretionary side. That is all positive and good. and it largely comes about because we have very strong leadership on the Appropriations Committee through Chairman COCHRAN and his commitment to fiscal discipline. Another issue I wish to talk about and put the issue in the correct context so people understand what is actually happening is the issue of border security because there has been a lot of confusion as to how much money we are spending on border security. where we are spending it. and what it is being spent on. I have the good fortune of chairing the Homeland Security Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee. As chairman of that subcommittee. I suggested we put in the supplemental as an emergency itemnot as an emergency item. we paid for it-$1.9 billion. the purpose of which would be to pay for capital items which were in dire need by Customs. the Border Patrol. and the Coast Guard. These are items such as airplanes--Customs is flying 20 or so P3s. and they were all grounded a month ago because they are 40 years over their useful life and they have serious structural issues that have to be checked all the time or they have the potential of serious structural issuesnew helicopters because the helicopters are 20 years past their useful life. new cars to be used on the border because the Border Patrol goes through cars rather rapidly because of the harshness of the terrain in which they have to use them. sensors. and unmanned vehicles. With the Coast Guard. it is fast boats to be used to make sure our shorelines are protected from people coming across who shouldnt be coming across and maybe want to do us harm. These are all capital items. The reason I suggested we do capital items is because I didnt want to create an outyear cost which we couldnt afford to pay for under the present budget system. but I did want to take off the table items I knew we were going to spend money on if we were going to have an effective Border Patrol. to have an effective Customs agency. and to have an effective Coast Guard. The White House looked at that number and said they really didnt want to do that. Instead. they shifted over and said: Lets do operational items. and they decided to take. of that $1.9 billion. about $800 million and spend it putting the National Guard on the border. and the balance of the money they basically used to project the hiring of new people and the addition of beds for detention. both of which I support. but both of which create certain issues. and that is what I want to talk about brieflythe issues created by the supplemental and what will occur in the followup appropriations bills of Homeland Security so everybody knows the playing field that is being defined.