WashTimes reports that President Bush will offer his amnesty “confidence-builder” in a speech this morning:

President Bush will state in a speech this morning that he supports an amendment to the immigration reform bill that would immediately spend $4.4 billion on border security, in the White House’s latest effort to resurrect the bill that failed last week.

“We’re talking about getting money to the border right away, and this is what we think is most feasible,” said White House spokesman Tony Snow.

The president speaks at 10:35 a.m.

After the Memorial Day recess last month, “members of Congress came back and said this is what they were hearing more than anything else,” Mr. Snow said, referring to a need for border security.

This amendment would be part of the overall immigration reform package, and is therefore different from an emergency funding supplemental bill.

A supplemental would put money towards border security regardless of whether a guest-worker program is passed.

Well, here’s some of the money the $35 billion DHS appropriations bill from last fall already allocated for border security and enforcement:

$362 million for the US Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator (US-VISIT) project, which has been stymied for 11 years.
$7.4 billion for Customs and Border Protection (CBP), including $1.2 billion for fencing and other barriers along the border, and funding for 1,500 new Border Patrol agents
$3.9 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
$181 million for US Citizenship and Immigration services (USCIS)

Here’s a reminder of how the fence disappeared.

National Review already had the most succinct rejoinder to the attempted Bush-Kennedy-McCain-Graham-Martinez buy-off yesterday:

“Don’t just show us the money, show us the enforcement.”

***

Update: More details about the Grand Ruse…

President Bush, hoping to salvage immigration overhaul legislation, has agreed to an upfront infusion of money for federal border security efforts in a concession designed to win over skeptical conservatives.

Bush supports setting aside all the fees and penalties in the bill solely for tougher security on the border and workplace enforcement, White House press secretary Tony Snow said Thursday. The president on Monday morning will make the announcement of his backing for an amendment that two Republican senators have proposed to accomplish this end.

The provision would immediately divert $4.4 billion toward border security, with that amount to be paid back once the new fees are in place, Snow said.

With many questions unanswered, it was unclear how much of a concession the move amounts to for Bush.

The White House did not have an estimate of how much money the provision would generate yearly toward border security. It also could not say whether the money would be in addition to currently planned border security funding levels or just a way to dedicate funds to that purpose. And it wasn’t clear what budget account would be drawn down to pay for the initial $4.4 billion.

comments (0)   trackbacks (5)