House Passes Legislation to Strengthen Border Security and Enforcement Efforts

Statement

Dear Friends,

Last week, the House of Representatives passed and I voted in favor of the 2010 Emergency Border Security Supplemental Appropriations Act to strengthen border security and address the threat of increased violence along the Southwest border. This legislation will provide a total of $600 million to help security and enforcement efforts.

We have seen a significant rise in activity from Mexican drug cartels along the border resulting in increased violence, drug smuggling and weapon smuggling. With this funding, we will be able to expand the number of border patrol agents and officers to improve surveillance at our borders.

The provisions of this bill are similar to those included in the legislation that passed the House on July 28, 2010 and incorporates the Senate version, which was passed last week. It provides over $240 million to hire 1,000 new Border Patrol agents to permanently patrol our southern border and 250 new Customs and Border Protection agents for our ports of entry. In addition, funding was included to improve communications capabilities between federal border enforcement and state and local officers along the border.

This legislation is fully paid for and was signed into law on August 13, 2010.

It is an honor and privilege to serve as your representative in Washington. I encourage you to utilize my office as a resource and stay in contact as it enables me to better represent the beliefs and values of our district. Please visit my website for more information about this, and other important issues in Congress.

Sincerely,

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