http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090812/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_national_guard_border
How odd is it that they question the 225 million dollar funding for securing our border with Mexico, but they have no problem finding the billions to keep cash for clunkers program going that no one seems to want.
A proposed government plan to use National Guard troops to help stem Mexican drug violence along the southern border is stymied by disagreements over who will pay for the soldiers and how they would be used.
Ordered by President Barack Obama in June to help secure the border with Mexico, the Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security drafted a $225 million program to temporarily deploy 1,500 Guard troops to supplement U.S. Border Patrol agents.
The two agencies are wrangling over how to structure the deployment, but the primary sticking point is the money, according to senior administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
The funding stalemate lingers even after Obama renewed his commitment to Mexican officials on Monday to reinforce the border and to help Mexico battle the drug cartels. Fierce battles between Mexican law enforcement and the cartels have left as many as 11,000 people dead and fueled concerns about violence spilling into the U.S.
"The United States," Obama said during a news conference in Mexico Monday, "will also meet its responsibilities by continuing our efforts to reduce the demand for drugs and continuing to strengthening the security of our shared border — not only to protect the American people, but to stem the illegal southbound flow of American guns and cash that helps fuel this extraordinary violence."
Meanwhile, state leaders are getting antsy.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry is still waiting for a response to his request for 1,000 more troops, his spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger said Tuesday.
Auto inventories tight, U.S. "clunker" interest slips
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE57B09220090812
