BORDER LAWMAKERS FIGHT FOR EMERGENCY BORDER FUNDS
Written by admin, Jul 28, 2010, 0 Comments
Courtesy Ashley Patterson,
Seven Border Lawmakers Press Leadership for Emergency Funds
Washington, DC – Today, Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28), Chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism, joined six other southern border lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives to urge House Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Hoyer to introduce a stand-alone bill with at least $701 million in emergency federal funding for the nation’s southern border.
In a letter addressed to Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Hoyer, the Border Caucus members urged their colleagues to bring an emergency bill to the floor following the Senate’s rejection of critical border funds late last week as part of the Fiscal Year 2010 Supplemental Funding Bill.
“We are at a critical juncture in our nation’s border and homeland security. As violence persists in Mexico , we cannot pause in our ability to detect, deter and disrupt the illegal activity that seeks to permeate our border,” the members of the Border Caucus wrote in their letter. “We urge you to bring to the House floor either a stand-alone bill or another legislative vehicle that includes this southern border security emergency funding.”
The July 27 letter signed by Congressmen Henry Cuellar, Raul Grijalva, Bob Filner, Ciro Rodriguez, Harry Teague, Silvestre Reyes and Congresswoman Giffords, calls on the senior House leadership to “swiftly move a legislative vehicle that readdresses the need for emergency funding for the southern border.”
“We cannot wait another six weeks for this critical funding for our border,” said Congressman Henry Cuellar. “I am urging my congressional colleagues to help us pass this emergency border funding as our border states continue to face a unique exposure to threats everyday. Now is not the time to abandon any opportunity to provide more resources to secure the U.S. Mexico border.”
To view a copy of the border member letter, please visit: http://www.cuellar.house.gov/UploadedFiles/Letter_to_House_Leaders_Border_Security_1.pdf
