South Texas congressmen get border security funding

Rebuffed in a first attempt to secure $701 million for border security, U.S. House members pushed through a replacement measure in a late-night voice vote Wednesday.

All five U.S. representatives from Texas who represent communities along the U.S.-Mexico border supported the funding, which was originally included in the House’s version of an emergency measure to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But Senate Republicans stripped the $701 million for border security and other domestic spending out of the war supplemental bill before final approval.

Calling the funding critical to efforts to combat drug and human smuggling along the Southwest border, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar and six other border congressmen pushed for the stand-alone bill that passed late Wednesday without a roll-call vote.

Cuellar, D-Laredo, said border states are at a “critical juncture” as they wait to see whether the Senate will approve the measure before it breaks for a six-week recess.

“I can’t see politically why someone would vote against this,” Cuellar said of his colleagues in the Senate. “We have a very serious situation across the border in Mexico, and this money will help us secure the border.”

The $701 million included in the war supplemental bill — which President Barack Obama requested when he announced he would deploy 1,200 National Guard troops to the border — represented one of the largest ever infusions of federal funding for border security programs.

The stand-alone bill the House approved late Wednesday is identical to the original language that was stripped out of the war supplemental bill.

Among other initiatives, it would pay for an additional 1,200 U.S. Border Patrol agents, provide grants for border law enforcement agencies and assist U.S. Justice Department agencies in arresting and prosecuting criminals who operate along the border.

In a statement, the five Texas representatives said the measure “would provide much-needed funding for border security and will augment our current security efforts” at a time when Mexico is experiencing a high incidence of border violence.

Republicans have opposed the border security funding because no cuts were made to other programs to offset the additional spending.

But U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi, said the violence will have a serious economic impact on the two countries if not kept in check by beefing up border security.

Bearing in mind the chilling effect violence can have on trade, he said, U.S. senators should consider the need for border security over the cost.

“(Republicans) seem to understand that this is in the best interests of our country,” Ortiz said. “If they’re concerned about all the undocumented workers in the United States, just imagine what’s going to happen if we can’t secure the border.”