Randy's Roundup

House Passes Border Security Measure
December 19, 2005

The Border Security measure that I have been talking about the past few weeks passed the House on Friday. I believe that this is a good bill that moves America closer to our goal of regaining control of our borders.

First and foremost, this legislation reinforces our nation's respect for the rule of law by increasing penalties for those individuals and businesses that break current immigration laws. This bill also ends the misguided "Catch and Release" practice, and calls for the use of a wide range of tools to patrol our borders, ranging from fences to sophisticated, 21st century technology. These provisions work to cut off illegal immigration at its source by reducing the incentives for illegal immigration and securing our borders.

This bill represents just one aspect of our comprehensive strategy to secure our borders and fix our broken immigration system. Over the past year, Congress has passed legislation that provides $1 billion for immigration custody operations; $135 million for transportation and removal of illegal immigrants; and funds for 40,000 new detention beds, tripling current capacity.

In the coming year, Congress will build on the progress made in 2005 and continue to work on fixing our broken immigration system. Recognizing the fact that tens of millions of illegal immigrants have already entered the United States, Congress will specifically address the fundamental task of enforcing immigration laws already on the books.

Bright Spots and Disappointments in Hong Kong

Our trade negotiators have just returned from Hong Kong where agriculture trade policy was a focus of discussion. As is often the case with this type of negotiation, there were reasons to be encouraged and reasons to be disappointed. Our negotiators, particularly U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, stated that our domestic support for agriculture is not the cause of Africa's farming problems. They stressed the need for developing countries to learn and implement farming techniques that lead to better productivity and larger yields. That is the truth, and I commend Ambassador Portman and Secretary Johanns for making that case on the world stage.

On the flip side, the European Union remains unwilling to make meaningful concessions, and I'm concerned that cotton is being treated differently than all other commodities. It is important to note however these negotiations are not complete, and this round of talks will continue on into 2006. There still remains opportunity to achieve a better deal for cotton. My full reaction to the Hong Kong Ministerial is on my website, www.randy.house.gov.

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/tx19_neugebauer/morenews/RR121905.html