On Monday, the President made a speech about improving border security by adding National Guard troops. Who will pay for the National Guard troops who serve at the border? Will each state have to foot the bill for the transportation, lodging/food, and supplies? Much of the equipment owned by the National Guard has been left in Iraq. Will states and their citizens need to pay additional money to fund this?
Did you know that Bush cut funding for an increase in the border patrol? Here are some excerpts from the article:
..Officially approved by Bush on Dec. 17 after extensive bickering in Congress, the National Intelligence Reform Act included the requirement to add 10,000 border patrol agents in the five years beginning with 2006. Roughly 80 percent of the agents were to patrol the southern U.S. border from Texas to California, along which thousands of people cross into the United States illegally every year.
But Bush's proposed 2006 budget, revealed Monday, funds only 210 new border agents...
...Democrats were unhappy that the proposed budget used the escape clause so soon after the president approved the huge boost in border agents....
...A Jan. 24 letter signed by leading Republican lawmakers implored the president to fully fund the new law "in order to secure our borders against infiltration by terrorists..."
*Republican Rep. Deborah Pryce (OH-15) said the following about sending the National Guard to the border: I think it certainly is a step in the right direction, but I’m not a military expert or a border expert. I don’t think we can go wrong with 6,000, we’ll just see how we go.
Someone should ask Rep. Pryce why we need to send the National Guard when the President cut funding for border patrol agents? Who will pay the salaries for the National Guard? Will the states be reimbursed? Who will pay for all the expenses? Will Ohioans be left having to pay for this just like we are paying for the unfunded federal mandate of No Child Left Behind? What does she think of the President cutting funding for 9,790 border patrol agents in February? Will someone tell us the truth?