Hutchinson's Myth a Reality
She Really Did Gut the Border Fence

American Patrol Report -- September 21       In December of 2007 Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson pushed through an amendment to a huge government-funding bill to give the DHS Secretary (Chertoff) the final say-so over the border fence. Some claimed she essentially gutted the fence.     This is what Senator Hutchinson says in response to the claim that she gutted the border fence: Myth: The language "gutted" the border fence. FACT: The amendment mandates 700 miles of fence along the U.S. -- Mexico border. Of that, 370 miles of fence must be completed by the end of 2008. The Secure Fence Act did not have a requirement of 370 miles of fencing by December 2008. OUR FACT: DHS's Secure Border Initiative has constructed fewer than 120 miles of fence and it is very likely that fewer than 150 miles of fence will be completed by the end of 2008, even if Congress gives DHS more money.     So, using Hutchinson's amendment, Chertoff cut the fence in half by making it single-layered, not double-layered as the law originally required. Then he cut that by building less than half of what Hutchinson said was mandated. That is called gutting the fence.     What say you now, Senator Hutchinson?