Bush's border fence to cost extra $400 million
By EILEEN SULLIVAN
Associated Press
September 10, 2008
Page 2 of 2
Since 2006, Congress has appropriated $2.7 billion for the fence. But there's no estimate how much the entire system -- the physical fence and technology -- will cost to build, let alone maintain.
Border fences have been sprouting across California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas for decades -- dating to the 1940s, when the International Boundary and Water Commission, an agency that deals with border issues, built 234 miles of fence to keep out foot-and-mouth disease.
As a result, the U.S. fence is a patchwork of old and new construction and in varying states of repair; the only consistency is a uniform ugliness. Over the years surveillance cameras, ground sensors and unmanned aerial drones have been used in spots along the border. But the current building spree is the first comprehensive federal push to seal the entire stretch with either physical fencing or detection and surveillance technology.
If Congress does not approve the use of an additional $400 million to build the physical fence, Ahern said, "We will exhaust our moneys and go as far as we can."
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