Border fence, detainee issues dominate debate
Final Homeland Security spending bill likely will not include funding for physical fencing along the Southwest border, but is expected to include language regarding the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the United States.
The House on Thursday approved the $33.5 billion fiscal 2010 Energy and Water Appropriations bill after naming conferees for the fiscal 2010 Homeland Security spending bill.
The Energy and Water spending bill passed, 308-114, and Senate action on the bill could come next week. Conference negotiators on Wednesday finished the measure, which represents a 1 percent increase above the $33.3 billion provided in fiscal 2009.
The House named conferees for the Homeland Security spending legislation but a scheduled meeting later on Thursday was postponed. A Senate Appropriations Committee aide said negotiators decided they "were not ready to proceed at this time."
House action on the Homeland Security conference came after approving, 258-163, a nonbinding motion to instruct conferees offered by House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Harold Rogers, R-Ky.
Under the motion, the transfer of prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military detention center to the United States would be prohibited; photos of abuse of detainees in U.S. custody would never be made public; and the compromise bill would have to be made available to the public for 72 hours before being considered by the House.
Rogers also plans to offer the motion as an amendment to the bill when conferees meet.
The compromise Homeland Security Appropriations bill will probably not include controversial language requiring the Homeland Security Department to build 700 miles of reinforced double-layered physical fencing along the Southwest border, one lawmaker said.
The lawmaker, who asked to remain anonymous, added that the bill is still expected to include language regarding the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the United States.
The border fencing requirement was added to the Senate bill through an amendment by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C. It would require the department to complete the fencing by Dec. 31, 2010. Although the department and other lawmakers say 700 miles of double-layer fencing is both expensive and not needed, an aide said a decision on the language would be made through the conference process.
The language on Guantanamo Bay would require the Homeland Security Department to conduct a threat assessment on detainees to determine how much risk their transfer to the United States would create. It would also allow detainees to come to the United States for trial and prosecution.
Meanwhile, the Senate continued debate on Thursday on the $636.3 billion fiscal 2010 Defense Appropriations bill, approving an amendment from Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., that requires top officials to testify before Congress "promptly" after President Obama decides whether to send additional troops to Afghanistan.
These officials include Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen and Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.
The amendment, approved 60-39, comes as pressure mounts to have McChrystal testify on Capitol Hill while the White House continues to weigh plans for Afghanistan.
Levin offered his amendment to counter another introduced by Armed Services Committee ranking member John McCain, R-Ariz., which would require such testimony by Nov. 15 regardless of whether the administration had made a decision on Afghanistan. The Senate defeated that amendment by a 59-40 vote.
Megan Scully contributed to this report.