Congress needs to fully fund that program. This amendment would do that. Anyone who has visited the border region knows that the infrastructure of our Coast Guard and our Border Patrol is woefully out of date. At one point. all of the P3 surveillance aircraft along the border were grounded due to structural failures. This amendment therefore funds $973 million for Coast Guard improvements in vessels. aircraft. and equipment. and to replace air assets and engage in air fleet modernizationsomething that is long overdue. This funding was previously passed by the Senate in H.R. 4939. only to be stripped during the conference report. Of course. this amendment alone will not fix our broken immigration system. We need comprehensive reform. But until Congress regains the credibility it so sorely needs to be able to move forward on comprehensive immigration reform. we will remain stuck as we are now with the Senate. which has passed a bill and the House which has passed a bill failing to convene a conference and work out our differences and actually provide a solution to this problem. We do need comprehensive immigration reform. We need to create a temporary worker program for those who come to our country and want to work legally and then return to their country of origin. We need to address the 12 million individuals who are currently living in the shadows who are already present. living among us. I remain committed to comprehensive immigration reform and I will continue to advocate for a bill that provides economic and national security. But I believe that funding for our border security is a necessary and essential step in that direction and I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. Madam President. I ask for the yeas and nays.
Keywords matched
border security Border Patrol immigration