Some conservatives are labeling U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison a traitor after she slipped an amendment into the federal budget bill passed last month that some say effectively kills the http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=2696.
Lynn Brezosky
Express-News
The conservative radio world and blogosphere has been buzzing with outcry that the amendment — which removed the requirement under the Secure Fence Act for a double-layered fence and gave Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff flexibility in its placement — did just that.
Nationally syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin decried the “incredible shrinking border fence.” Others called Hutchison “Benedict Arnold” and said the Texas Republican used the “cover of Christmas” to ram the measure through. Hutchison says there’s a lot of misinformation out there.
“Border patrol agents reported that coyotes and drug-runners were altering their routes as fencing was deployed, so the amendment gives our agents discretion to locate the fence where necessary to achieve operational control of our border,” she said.
Customs and Border Protection said it is committed to building the fence and this week announced plans to take legal action against 102 border landowners, including 71 in Texas who were not letting federal workers on their land to survey the areas.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA011108.01A.borderfence0111.29b7f16.html