Law approved as many as 10,000 agents; the new budget funds 210

[struggle4progress]

Belt-tightening cuts border plans
Law approved as many as 10,000 agents; the new budget funds 210
By MICHAEL HEDGES

Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - The law signed by President Bush less than two months ago to add thousands of Border Patrol agents along the U.S.-Mexico border has crashed into the reality of Bush's austere federal budget proposal, officials said Tuesday.

Officially approved by Bush on Dec. 17 after extensive bickering in Congress, the National Intelligence Reform Act included the requirement to add 10,000 Border Patrol agents in the five years beginning with 2006. Roughly 80 percent of the agents were to patrol the southern U.S. border from Texas to California, along which thousands of people cross into the United States illegally every year.

But Bush's proposed 2006 budget, revealed Monday, funds only 210 new border agents. <snip>

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3030786