Senate Shifts Iraq Funds to Border Patrols

[brooklynite]

WASHINGTON - The Senate voted Wednesday to divert some of the money President Bush requested for the war in Iraq to instead increase patrols against illegal immigrants on the nation's borders and provide the Coast Guard with new boats and helicopters.

An amendment cutting Bush's Iraq request by $1.9 billion to pay for new Border Patrol agents, aircraft and some fencing at border crossings widely used by illegal immigrants was adopted on 59-39 vote.

While the border security funds had sweeping support, Democrats and Republicans argued over whether the cuts to Pentagon war funds would harm troops on the ground in Iraq. The cuts, offered by Judd Gregg, R-N.H., trim Bush's request for the war by almost 3 percent but don't specify how.

The vote came in the wake of a toughly worded promise by the White House to veto the $106.5 billion measure unless it is cut back to below $95 billion.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060426/ap_on_go_co/congress_spending_8
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I guess you could say the Senate Republicans were for the war in Iraq before they were against it...

[cliss]

1. I wonder what this means

in terms of Iraq? Yahoo news just ran an article about R & R (the trouble twins) on a surprise visit to Iraq.

Rice mentioned "one of the priorities is to get the electricity back on", since that has been a source of contention for the Iraqis since the US invaded in 2003.

I wonder if they just got "cut off"?

[ECH1969]

2. The GOP base is furious at Bush

For not wanting to put all Mexicans in a giant hole and bulldozing over them.

Bush probably would be 10 points higher in the polls if he wasn't so willing to piss off his base over things like Immigration and the Dubi Ports Deal.

[rodeodance]

3. Senate Shifts Iraq Funds to Border Patrols

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/congress_spending;_ylt=AhYDHEBKt3YJpdjtG3en.Res0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

Senate Shifts Iraq Funds to Border Patrols

By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer 4 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The Senate voted Wednesday to divert some of the money
President Bush requested for the war in Iraq to instead increase security on the nation's borders and provide the Coast Guard with new boats and helicopters.


Senators also ignored a White House veto threat and overwhelmingly voted against cutting a $106.5 billion measure funding Iraq, further hurricane relief for the Gulf Coast — and a slew of add-ons opposed by fiscal conservatives and Bush.

Among those add-ons is a $700 million project to relocate a rail line along the Mississippi coast so the state can build a new east-west highway to spur economic development and ease transportation woes. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., moved Wednesday to strike the project, saying it doesn't belong in the emergency war funding bill, though he's not confident of his chances.

On border security, the Senate voted 59-39 for a plan to cut Bush's Iraq request by $1.9 billion to pay for new aircraft, patrol boats and other vehicles, as well as border checkpoints and a fence along the Mexico border crossing near San Diego.

[rodeodance]

4. silly things got added in like Barbour's railraod

.....Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran, R-Ill. — the key architect of the bill — is unhappy with the veto threat and easily beat back a move by Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., to kill $12 billion in add-ons, such as $4 billion in farm aid, $1.1 billion for Gulf Coast fisheries and the much-criticized Mississippi rail line relocation.

Mississippi GOP Gov. Haley Barbour came to Capitol Hill Wednesday to lobby for the rail relocation project. The rail line, owned by CSX Transportation, has been rebuilt with insurance proceeds at a cost of nearly $300 million.

Bush insists that total spending in the bill be capped at his $92.2 billion request for Iraq and hurricane relief, though he is willing to accept $2.3 billion in the bill to prevent an outbreak of avian flu.

The bill is sure to be carved back in House-Senate negotiations next month, and Bush may very well not have to follow through on his veto promise.

[Name removed]

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[BigDDem]

6. Shouldnt we use these funds

to give Exxon a tax cut?