House, Senate reach deal on border security bill

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Foreign visitors and students would have to start carrying tamper-proof passports and visas with identifiers such as retina scans under a border security bill Congress debated Tuesday. A vote approving the measure is expected Wednesday.

The GOP-controlled House had been holding up the bill because the Democratic-controlled Senate wanted a provision allowing the Justice Department to ignore federal bidding requirements on a computer system federal agents would use to screen visa applicants.

However, House Government Reform Committee Chairman Dan Burton, R-Ind., objected to the exemption, the Associated Press reported. Early Tuesday morning, the Senate authorized the House to take out the language, paving the way for House action.

President Bush is expected to sign the bill, stalled in Congress since December.

The border security bill would boost the pay of border patrol agents and allow the Immigration and Naturalization Service to hire 200 new investigators and another 200 inspectors.

It would require the INS to establish a foreign-student tracking system. Several of the hijackers involved in the Sept. 11 attacks were in the country on student visas.

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