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The Senate approved an amendment Wednesday to the $106.5 billion fiscal 2006 emergency supplemental to bolster border security by $1.9 billion and help win support for the stalled immigration bill.

On a 59-39 vote, the Senate approved the amendment by Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and Budget Chairman Judd Gregg, R-N.H., backed by a handful of Democrats including Appropriations ranking member Robert Byrd of West Virginia.

Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and other Democrats opposed the measure because it was financed with a 2.8 percent cut in military programs in the bill, which Frist and Gregg said was necessary to avoid adding to the federal deficit. The Senate defeated, 54-44, a Reid amendment that would have provided full funding for the amendment minus the offset.

No senator disputed the need for the border money, and the funding was identical in the Frist and Reid measures. Both would provide $790 million for replacement of helicopters and aircraft to patrol the southern border, $600 million to upgrade Coast Guard patrol boats and equipment, and $120 million for new Customs stations and checkpoints.

But the debate was tinged with midterm and presidential politics, with the parties sparring over spending priorities. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., accused Frist, her potential presidential rival, of taking money from troop pay, body armor and efforts to combat roadside bombs.

"Don't cut the research we finally have going as to how we're going to defeat improvised explosive devices because you now decide you want to do border security," Clinton said.

Gregg lambasted the Democratic arguments, saying he had met with Armed Services Chairman John Warner, R-Va., and Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who assured him there would be no funding disruptions. Defense spending in the supplemental still would be $67 billion, more than the regular annual budgets of most Cabinet agencies, and Gregg said the Pentagon should be able to trim $2 billion within an overall $530 billion budget.

"So to come down here and allege that these funds are going to come out of the needs of the people on the front lines in Iraq or Afghanistan is pure poppycock," Gregg said. "When the defense budget was being cut, savaged basically under the Clinton administration ... it was people like Sen. Stevens, Sen. Warner who stood on this floor and tried to stop it."

Frist praised adoption of his amendment, saying he hoped Reid would agree to work "in good faith" to pass the immigration bill before the Memorial Day recess. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Wednesday the border security amendment would help "four or five" Republicans who previously opposed a deal to support the compromise on immigration that includes a temporary guestworker plan.

Graham said Republicans are "looking for a way" to support the compromise and the additional funding to bolster border security resources provides political shelter.

Greta Wodele contributed to this report.

COMMENTS

• Just because you say it doesn't make it so. Gunny said, "The laws and the enforcement policies addressing illegal entry and control of the border have been in place since the creation of man." Absolutely false! The laws we have today are the not in my backyard mentality of the post-WWII era. They did not exist and did not stop the tremendous flow of Germans, Italians and Irish in the 1800s or the criminals and religious fanatics earlier. The problem is not the enforcement of the laws, it is the laws themselves. Stop trying to keep people out of the country who are looking for opportunity. Just focus on terrorists and those that would cause violent actions. This country is great because of the constant and substantial flow of immigrants from countries all over the world. Everyone is worried about speaking Spanish but the United States has no official language because Congress cannot or will not pass the law to establish an official language! We came within one vote of having German as our official language in the 1800s. Congress should establish English as the official language now before the number of Spanish speaking people becomes so great it forces a vote for an official language of Spanish! I lived in California when the official California languages were Spanish, English and Chinese! What a mess that was and very expensive because the state had to print everything in three different languages. If you think the likelihood of Spanish as our language is high you better start watching Chinese. The fastest growing economy in the world is in China and as the population of China gains income their domestic economy will surpass that of the United States by far. They have 2 billion consumers and we have 350 million and are trying to keep it there by limiting immigration. The United States is going to lose the economic battle -- it simply is a matter of time. We are transferring our income to the Chinese are a rapid rate and that is not likely to stop although it may slow. Taxpayer Posted May 3, 2006 7:44 AM
• "Interior enforcement"? That's a laugh. Why spend money on interior enforcement when this country grants amnesty to millions of illegal alien invaders every 20 years or so, and in the meantime, issues "Notices to Disappear" (oops, I meant "Notices to Appear") to violators who spit on our laws and our flag on those rare occasions when they are apprehended by INS and now ICE? GovExec.com reader Posted April 27, 2006 5:51 PM
• I believe it would be safe to surmise that Congress has not awakened from their coma and taken a long, hard look at the big picture. $1.9 billion could produce far greater benefits if a large part was allocated toward equipment, manpower, and operational requisites for interior enforcement. Anyone who has been on the front lines knows there has been little, if any, creed given to the problems that have culminated from the nonchalant attitude regarding this ongoing debacle. The laws and the enforcement policies addressing illegal entry and control of the border have been in place since the creation of man. What's been lacking is the intestinal fortitude to enforce them as written. Free up the Border Patrol and let them do what they're charged with: patrolling the border. A select few, who shall remain nameless, arrived at the idea of lining up agents on the border to play "Red Rover" which made about as much sense as putting a "No Peeing" section in a swimming pool. The laws need to be strictly adhered to; no more appeals, no more benefit programs designed to let those illegals who are ineligible become eligible. It's time to stop creating more problems when the ones we already are tasked with have no resolution in sight. As far as the big ticket items, why does Customs need new stations and checkpoints? What's wrong with the existing structures? I find it insulting that a big-budget outfit isn't satisfied with the latest high-tech gadgets they always seem to get when the rest of us have to suck it up. $790 million for replacement aircraft? Call in the military, those guys would love the chance and the flight time. Last, but not least, someone shove a sock in Hillary's mouth. She rants about Frist trying to take money from troops’ pay and body armor. How rich is that! All this from someone who abhors the military and even had the nerve to insult the Marines at the White House by having them play waiters (in civilian attire, not dress blues) for State functions. What a disgrace. Gunny GovExec.com reader Posted April 28, 2006 11:25 AM