Appropriator says Obama budget puts border at risk

The lead House Republican appropriator for homeland security told President Obama's border patrol head on Wednesday that the president's budget puts border security at risk by cutting crucial enforcement resources

Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), chairman of the House Appropriations Homeland Security subcommittee, decried the fact the budget cuts $72 million in funds to buy air and sea equipment to control the border.

"The President’s FY13 budget request cuts resources from critical mission support that will take uniformed personnel off the front line to perform administrative tasks," he said in a statement. "That is simply unacceptable, and if [Customs and Border Protection] and the entire Department are unwilling to prioritize limited taxpayer dollars to securing our borders, this subcommittee will."

He said, "with rising fuel prices, cuts to Coast Guard assets and aging aircrafts already flying reduced flight hours, this proposal could seriously jeopardize our Nation’s border security capabilities.”

U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael Fisher defended Obama's border record in written testimony.

He said that over the last three years, DHS has seized 74 percent more currency, 41 percent more drugs and 159 percent more weapons along the southwest border compared to the last three years of the Bush administration.

According to a Hill staffer, when the fact the US-Visit program has been transfered to Customs and Border Patrol is factored in, CBP is receiving its first real cut in the 2013 budget. The aide noted $55 million less for mission support and $35 million less for information technology.

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