Speech #1090175497

Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of House Resolution 1030. legislation honoring the United States Border Patrol. Without a doubt. the United States Border Patrol provides a critical service to this Nation. We rely on them to be highly trained. to be very qualified. to carry out the challenging and important job of securing our Nations borders. And not just at the Southern border. like what we have in California. But I was recently at a hearing that we had up in Seattle to talk about the issues going on at our northern border and. of course. our Border Patrol was there. And the issues that they have. the things that they confront are vast. and it is such a difficult. difficult job to do. So we really do want to honor and let them know. as the House of Representatives. that we understand that their jobs are done in difficult conditions. in the desert. forest. and with professionalism and with unfailing dedication. So I support the work that the United States Border Patrol is doing. And for that reason I think that we should not only honor them with words but also provide our Border Patrol agents with the resources that they need to do their job. As I said. when I was up in Seattle. one of the things we kept hearing over and over from the Border Patrol is that they need more resources. They need more people at the borders. They need more technology at the borders. In the 9/11 Act. Congress promised to increase the numbers of Border Patrol agents. of immigration agents and of the detention beds that we need when we get these people who are coming without the right documents and that we would also provide stateoftheart technology to help the Border Patrol actually secure the borders. But. unfortunately. time after time after time in this House. that has been voted down. We have not lived up to the promise. and the Border Patrol remains understaffed and without access to necessary space and equipment that they need. So I expect that this House Resolution 1030 will receive broad bipartisan support. I cant imagine too many people who would vote against it. and I am looking forward to working with my colleagues who cast this vote to actually fulfill the promise of this vote. and that would be to give the muchneeded resources to the United States Border Patrol. Mr. Speaker.