The Texas Senate has given preliminary approval to a $1.88 billion border security bill which Governor Greg Abbott had listed as an agenda item for the special session. The Senate passed House Bill 9 23-8 Tuesday.
"The situation at our border is a failure of federal leadership and an entirely avoidable disaster," Sen. Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound) said before the vote.
Nelson laid out how the money would be spent:
$301 million for 1,800 additional members of the Texas National Guard, bringing the total number at the border to 2,500
$155 million for additional overtime at the Department of Public Safety and to pay for 79 additional troopers
$274 million for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for an additional 3,000 jail beds and to reimburse the agency for money taken from its budget
An additional $1 billion would go toward border security grants, including $750 million for construction of a barrier.
A complete list is available here.
"Until the federal government does its job and gets a handle on this heartbreaking and frightening situation, it unfortunately falls on Texas to protect Texans," Nelson says. "This is a bi-partisan issue. All of us are being impacted."
Cesar Blanco (D-El Paso) asked for clarity on how much a barrier would cost per mile and what areas the barrier would cover.
"We've reached out to DPS, we've reached out to the National Guard, we've reached out to the Facilities Commission. There really isn't any clarity on where a lot of this wall is going to go," he says. "In my district, I've got urban and extremely rural parts of the state. They can't give us any information."
"That's why we have DPS. That's why we have professionals to tell us where it is most needed and what kind of barrier is most needed," Nelson says.
Blanco says the state should be looking at other alternatives and use more technology.
"From my perspective, we're rushing to do a very archaic way of doing border security," he says.
Nelson says DPS has said technology might be more effective than a barrier in some parts of the state. She says some money would go toward additional technology.
"I would urge the governor to consider adding that," Nelson says. "They're telling us technology is a huge need."
Related
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow NewsRadio 1080 KRLD