TORTILLA CURTAIN UPDATE….Remember the 700-mile fence along the Mexican border that Congress approved a couple of weeks ago? There are two parts to it: an appropriations bill that authorizes spending $1.2 billion on the project, and the Secure Fence Act, which requires the money to actually be spent on a fence. Mickey Kaus notes that George Bush has signed the former but not yet the latter and wonders if he’s planning to quietly pocket veto the Secure Fence Act and then use the appropriations money in more innocuous ways (a “virtual fence”). I’m not sure I buy it, but it is interesting that he didn’t sign both bills at once, isn’t it?
Perhaps he just wants to sign the second bill more quietly. Or maybe he really believes in a moderate immigration policy so strongly that he’s willing to double-cross his pro-fence base and kill the bill. By my count, he has until Wednesday to sign it. Tick tick tick…..
