Speech #1090171126

Mr. Speaker. let me say. in order to spend the money. you first have to authorize the money. In the Senate. as I rise in support of this rule to consider H.R. 6061. let me say that the Senate has attached to the defense authorization bill language. and this is what is anticipated. that will discuss the building of a border fence. But we want to make certain on the House side as we pass the authorization language and go into conference with the Senate that we disabuse our colleagues in the other House from one concept. and that is the language that would preclude the construction of any border fence without consultation with the Government of Mexico. Let me explain why I think that approach would not be in the interest of the United States. We in California have dealt for some years now with trying to close one breach in our border fence. It is called Smugglers Gulch. a fence that runs from the foothills to the ocean. Through that small 3mile breach. it has taken 8 years to get the California Coastal Commission to go along with closing that fence in consultation. 8 years. and it took an act of Congress that we passed here to do it. So if the Senate prevails on this issue. it means no border fence. We need this legislation to authorize the border fence before we go into conference with the Senate. I am a cosponsor of this bill. and I was a cosponsor of the border fence amendment offered by Congressman DUNCAN HUNTER and myself that was added to the Housepassed border security bill last September. As chairman of the Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation. I held field hearings in San Diego on July 5 and Laredo. Texas. on July 7. We heard from the men and women of the Border Patrol whose job it is to secure our border. We heard from the sheriffs whose deputies have been shot in the line of duty. We heard from Federal inspectors who have smuggled across that porous border the materials for a dirty bomb. And so this hearing that was focused on border vulnerabilities. we heard from these witnesses and we heard them express that the border fence is very effective. The Border Patrol testified as to that effectiveness. Daryl Griffin. who is the chief agent in San Diego. said. "It is a great force multiplier. It expands our enforcement capacity.