WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Senate late Friday approved H.R. 6061, the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which authorizes construction of new fencing along the U.S.-Mexican border. U.S. Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ), chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, hailed its passage.
“Passage of this bill takes a significant step toward gaining operational control of the border,” said Kyl. “It’s clear that with this bill, coupled with the passage of the homeland security funding bill, Congress is serious about addressing border security and backing up our commitments by funding what we’ve authorized.”
The U.S. Senate also approved the FY 2007 Homeland Security Appropriations bill, which provides funding for over $13 billion in border security enhancement and enforcement, including funding for several border security provisions that were authored by Kyl. The bill also includes a provision drafted by Senators Kyl and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), which criminalizes construction of a tunnel across an international border.
“I think everyone can agree that we need to gain control of our borders, and in the absence of Congress agreeing on comprehensive reform legislation now, I am pleased that bills such as this take immediate steps to help secure our borders.”
The bill allocates over $13 billion dollars for border security improvements and enforcement. Incorporated in this amount, one Kyl-authored provision would add 1,700 additional detention bed spaces to the 1,000 funded in the underlying legislation, which brings the total amount of detention spaces to 27,500. A separate Kyl provision also funds an increase in the number of Border Patrol agents by 500 to a total of 1,500 new agents this year.
