[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 1773]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    BUSH BUDGET ZEROES SCAAP FUNDING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Arizona (Ms. Giffords) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. GIFFORDS. Mr. Speaker, tonight I would like to take a few minutes 
for folks here in Washington to focus on southern Arizona. There, along 
114 miles of border in my district, Federal, State, county, and local 
law enforcement are on the front lines defending our border.
  Arizona faces unimaginable immigration and border security 
challenges. Last year, over 387,000 illegal immigrants were apprehended 
in Arizona, and an average of 1,000 illegal immigrants per day were 
arrested and deported from Tucson.
  The Tucson sector, which includes my district, is the most porous 
section along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border. More than 48 percent 
of the Nation's drug traffic enters our country through southern 
Arizona.
  This Monday, the President released his fiscal year 2009 budget 
proposal, and once again his budget failed to include any funding for 
the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, also known as SCAAP.
  The President refuses to recognize the importance of SCAAP funds. 
Without this funding, States and localities will be financially 
overwhelmed by costs that are the Federal Government's sole 
responsibility.
  Securing our Nation's borders is this government's priority, in my 
opinion. However, communities through southern Arizona and the Nation 
face extraordinary costs that are unfortunately being carried by them 
for incarcerating undocumented immigrants.
  Because of limited Federal contributions, the bulk of these costs are 
being borne by some very small counties. Some of these counties are 
also some of the poorest in the Nation. They are currently already 
operating under very slim budgets and staffing. This is why it is so 
important and so appropriate that the Federal funding be included.
  SCAAP was created by the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement 
Act of 1994. It is designed to reimburse States and local 
municipalities for the arrest, incarceration, and transportation costs 
associated with illegal immigrants who commit crimes in our 
communities.
  Under Federal law, the Federal Government has two options. It can 
either take undocumented criminals into Federal custody or it can 
compensate State and local jurisdictions.
  We are facing an immigration crisis here in Arizona. We are 
underfunding SCAAP, and the President is continuing to overburden our 
State and local governments. He is hampering the State's ability to 
protect our communities and uphold our laws.
  SCAAP funding is particularly important to communities like Bisbee 
and Douglas and Sierra Vista, those communities along the 2,000 miles 
of our southern borders, those States and local governments that incur 
greater costs than other jurisdictions.
  Over the past several years, these communities have exceeded SCAAP 
reimbursement funding by hundreds of millions of dollars. In fact, most 
counties along the U.S.-Mexico border are currently being reimbursed 
less than 9 percent of their cost.
  Just today, Mr. Speaker, in our Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of 
the House Foreign Affairs Committee, I heard from a number of Federal 
agencies about the President's Merida Initiative.
  I believe it is unacceptable that the President would refuse to 
reimburse our local law enforcement agencies, while asking Congress to 
spend $1.44 billion in assistance to Mexico and Central America. We 
need to invest our dollars in local law enforcement before we spend 
billions of dollars across the border. We have to prioritize the safety 
of our American communities first. We have to take the appropriate 
steps to ensure that SCAAP funding is in place, especially to border 
States like Arizona, and that it remains a Federal priority.
  I urge my colleagues, on both sides of the aisle to reject the 
President's cuts to SCAAP funding. Arizona, like many States, is 
currently facing a budget shortfall. Every dollar reduction in SCAAP 
reimbursement means a dollar less in Arizona or another State that they 
can spend on essential public safety services. So please join me in 
supporting our State and local law enforcement agencies by adequately 
funding the SCAAP program in the House fiscal year 2009 budget.

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