Call your Republican rep. and express outrage at $3 billion in funding being cut from DoD bill
The Senate passed its version of the Department of Defense (DoD) Appropriations bill (H.R. 3222), which included a provision by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) to set aside $3 billion for border security, but the House-Senate negotiators, under guidance from the House Democratic leadership, removed the $3 billion in conference.
Please call your Republican representative and decry the removal of the $3 billion in border security funds. Let your representative know that House Democratic leadership is doing all it can to keep the border insecure.
Background
Sen. Graham sponsored the amendment to the DoD bill with Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), which would:
Provide funding to construct 700 miles of fencing;
Provide funding to procure Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), ground sensors, and vehicle barriers;
Increase the ability to detain illegal aliens who overstay their visas and commit other crimes; and
Provide funding for states and localities that undergo training to assist the Federal government in enforcing immigration law.
The Senate voted in October to attach the $3 billion in funding to the DoD bill by a vote of 95 to 1.
Senators Graham, Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Jim Demint (R-S.C.), Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), and Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) held a press conference on November 7 to decry the removal of the border security funding from the DoD bill.
“It is outrageous that the leadership yanked this critical funding from the final bill,†Senator Dole said, “The Senate spoke loud and clear on this issue, and now a select few have decided to ignore the number one lesson learned from the Senate’s failed immigration bill – that Americans simply don’t have confidence that their government is serious about securing our borders and enforcing our laws.â€
[...] Graham is well aware of his unpopularity among South Carolinians and has tested their memory with a flip-flop this year, co-authoring an amendment, which passed 95-1 (only to be removed), to the Department of Homeland Security spending bill provided $3 billion in emergency spending for immigration and border enforcement. However, South Carolinian elephants won’t forget! [...]