Senate Floor Speech
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
October 29, 1999 -- Page: S13542

Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about President Clinton's veto of the Commerce, State, Justice appropriations bill for fiscal year 2000. I am very concerned about this veto. It was a very difficult bill. There is no question about it, given the budget caps that both Congress and this administration adopted and agreed they would adhere to.

Still, the bill provides the resources needed to continue our strong efforts to fight crime, enhance drug and border enforcement, respond to the threat of terrorism, and help women and children who are victims of family violence. A key component of our crime-fighting effort is stopping drugs at our borders. Thanks to Senator Judd Gregg and Senator Fritz Hollings, this bill provides for 1,000 new Border Patrol agents to guard our borders.

The President's decision to veto the bill makes clear that funding for these critical matters is not a priority to the President. Despite our budget constraints and our need to preserve Social Security, this bill provides nearly $3 billion more than last year's bill. This bill is not a cut; it is an increase.

The President said he vetoed the bill because it didn't fully fund his COPS Program. The reality is that Congress provided funding for 100,000 police for our cities all over America 2 years ago. In fact, we have provided funding for 115,000 police. The President says he wants 30,000 to 50,000 more, but the irony is he hasn't even met the first goal. We still don't have more than 60,000 police on the streets. Yet he is vetoing the bill when the funding is there. The full funding was given by Congress with the excuse that he wants 30,000 to 50,000 more when he has 40,000 that are fully funded that he has not been able to fill.

I am concerned because this is not the only law enforcement initiative in which the President has failed. This administration was under direction from Congress to hire 1,000 new border guards in 1999. It failed when only 200 to 400 were actually hired. Yet every penny of the money that went to the 1,000 has been spent. Yet this year in the budget that the President has just vetoed, the President didn't ask for one new Border Patrol agent.

I ask, what is the role of the Federal Government? Is it to put police on the streets of our cities or is it to guard the sovereignty of our Nation, the borders of our Nation? I think the President of the United States is not fulfilling his responsibility when Congress comes forward and says we are going to guard the borders of our country; we are going to provide for police on streets as requested, and he vetoes the bill and asks for no new Border Patrol agents.

Our border is a sieve. The distinguished chair and I both represent States on the Southwest border. There is no other way to describe it when an estimated $10 billion in marijuana, heroin, cocaine, and other drugs crossed our border last year, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy. These drugs find their way to cities and school yards all over America. This is not just the Southwest. It is not just Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California. These illegal drugs go all over the country. They end up in the school yards, preying on our children. We are a gateway, but we are not the stopping point. They are coming in record numbers. In 1998, there were over 6,000 drug seizures along the Southwest border. The total value was $1.28 billion. Our drug czar, General McCaffrey, has argued we should have 20,000 Border Patrol forces to stop the flow of drugs across our border.

A University of Texas study last year indicates 16,133 agents are needed to do the job. We have about 8,000--less than half of that needed to do the job, which is the responsibility of the Federal Government and which Congress is trying to provide, with no cooperation from this administration. Only 200 to 400 are likely to be hired this year, according to the administration's own records.

I think the President of the United States needs to stop the rhetoric. He needs to stop playing games with important appropriations bills and do something that is going to stop illegal immigration and illegal drugs coming through our borders and spreading all over our country. The President needs to fulfill the commitments he has already made and that we have funded to get 1,000 police officers on the streets and 1,000 more Border Patrol agents each year, for 5 years, as Congress has directed the administration to do.

Vetoing this bill does not help crime-fighting efforts. Signing the bill, keeping his promises for police and Border Patrol does.

I am very concerned the President of the United States has not taken seriously enough the need to control our borders, from illegal immigration to illegal drugs. Vetoing the Commerce-State-Justice bill shows that he is not taking this seriously, as Congress most certainly is. I urge the President to understand how important this issue is and to start doing what Congress has directed and what his own drug czar is recommending; that is, start working toward 20,000 Border Patrol agents who keep the sovereign borders of our country safe and secure.