Border Fence Debate Stalling Homeland Security Spending Bill
The debate over Sen. Jim DeMint's border fence amendment is stalling the reconciliation of the 2010 Homeland Security spending bill. Sen. DeMint's amendment requires the completion of the fence along the Southwest border and was approved by the Senate, but the House leadership is reluctant to support the measure.
House Appropriations Chairman David Obey said the 700 miles of fencing that will cost an estimated $6.5 million per mile is one of the major road blocks to reconciling the bill. During the summer, both the House and Senate passed different versions of the Homeland Security spending bill, so a conference committee is needed to smooth out the differences.But Chairman Obey said it can't go to conference until all the differences are resolved.
Ranking Member of the House Homeland Security Appropriations Committee Harold Rogers said, "If there are outstanding issues as the chairman suggests, you appoint conferees and go to conference to work out these tough issues. The bill is at a place where a true conference negotiation could resolve these last few outstanding issues out in the open, but we're not sure what the majority is afraid of."
Three other immigration-related amendments were passed by the Senate and will need to be reconciled with the House version of the bill. Sen. Chuck Grassley offered an amendment that allows employers to verify the employment eligibility of all employees, not just new hires. Sen. David Vitter offered an amendment that prevents any further delays in the implementation of the Social Security Administration's No-Match program. Sen. Jeff Sessions offered an amendment that require all federal contractors to use E-Verify and a permanent re-authorization for E-Verify. In a move to block Sen. Sessions' amendment, the Senate leadership tried to table the amendment, but the motion failed and was later passed.