Cutting the border budget

Since the State of the Union speech, (or really since the Scott Brown win in Massachusetts), Barack Obama has been working to polish his "fiscal accountability" credentials.

He told Congress that he wanted to institute a freeze on all "discretionary" domestic spending, which is another way of saying "everything except Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, defense, interest payments, stimulus spending, bailouts and anything we want to call an 'emergency'".  This means that the "freeze" is projected to apply to about $450 billion (or 13%) of a $3.5 trillion dollar budget.

This is essentially like putting a smiley face on a death certificate.  Or rather a "fiscal death certificate", considering his new budget projects the biggest deficit in American history and a national debt of about $20 trillion in the next decade.

So while we're continuing to "not" freeze spending on entitlement programs, what exactly are we cutting? According to USA Today:

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is proposing to scale back some border security programs set up after the 9/11 attacks and ramp up aviation security following the attempted Christmas bombing, in what some conservative lawmakers say is a dangerous priority shift.

Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., the top Republican on the House panel overseeing the Department of Homeland Security's
budget, says the border security funding in President Obama's budget
for fiscal year 2011 is "woefully inadequate" and "as dangerous as it
is indefensible."...

If Congress approves Obama's proposals:

• The Border Patrol, which doubled to 20,000 agents during the Bush administration, would lose 180 agents through attrition. Border staffing would stay the same.

• A "virtual" fence of pole cameras and sensors aimed at stopping illegal immigrants, drug smugglers and terrorists on
the U.S.-Mexican border, faces a $225 million cut from $800 million
last year. That would delay implementation while a review of the fence,
plagued by technical problems, is done.

• Five of the Coast Guard's 13 elite Maritime Security and Safety Teams (MSST), created since 2001 to protect waterfront cities, would be eliminated. Obama is proposing cuts in New York City, San Francisco, Anchorage and King's Bay, Ga.

• The existing 643 miles of concrete-and-steel border fence would be maintained but no new barriers would be built.

Of course, this is what you would expect from an administration that has already hinted that they want to move forward with a "comprehensive" immigration reform bill, which everyone knows means amnesty for illegal aliens.  And since when is border security considered "discretionary spending" by the way?

One has to wonder however if there will be enough Republicans to oppose these cuts because, well, there are way to many Republicans that can't be counted on to get (or stay) tough on illegal immigration.

Unfortunately, when it comes to amnesty and allowing illegal immigration, bi-partisanship is all too alive and well.