December 18, 2007

Kay Bailey Hutchison, Dems scale back border fence

From this:

[The House] last night passed a giant new spending bill that undermines current plans for a U.S.-Mexico border fence, allowing the Homeland Security Department to build a single-tier barrier rather than the two-tier version that has worked in California.

The spending bill, written by Democrats and passed 253-154 with mostly their votes...

...The 2006 Secure Fence Act specifically called for "two layers of reinforced fencing" and listed five specific sections of border where it should be installed. The new spending bill removes the two-tier requirement and the list of locations.

House Democrats said they were just adopting the Senate version, which was backed by a bipartisan group of border-state senators and passed the Senate several times this year.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, the Texas Republican who has led the charge to change the 2006 law, said she wants to give Homeland Security more flexibility and wants local officials and landowners to be consulted...

Reps. Peter King (R-NY) and Duncan Hunter (R-CA) both oppose the move. The first says it "guts the Secure Fence Act almost entirely", the second says it would be a "significant step backwards". Apparently the changes are in line with what the DHS wants.

There's also what appears to be a minor Rudy Giuliani connection to all this. His law firm (Bracewell & Giuliani) apparently donated money to Hutchison, and that firm has represented DynCorp - a "virtual fence" subcontractor - in litigation. See comments 10 and 44 here. Whether there's shenanigans involved isn't known.

Related:
Secure Fence Act: a hoax and a scam? (Kay Bailey Hutchison, DHS)

Posted to Immigration2007b at December 18, 2007 10:15 AM