Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today voted to approve legislation that contains funding for border security.  It passed 86-3, and must now be conference with the version passed by the House of Representatives.

The measure contains $250 million to combat violence and drug trafficking, of which $140 million is for the Department of Homeland Security to hire additional law enforcement and intelligence personnel, and to pay overtime for those already working along the border. 

The Supplemental Appropriations Bill, which in part funds ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, also contains $100 million to allow the Department of Justice to hire agents and investigators to apprehend violent fugitives and drug traffickers, and to upgrade technology to facilitate cooperation with Mexican authorities. 

“Earlier this year, we set aside millions of dollars to strengthen our borders.  This funding will build on that success, and continue the process of cracking down on the smuggling of drugs and guns across the border,” Bingaman said. 

In response to escalating drug cartel violence in Mexico and its affect on the border region, Bingaman last winter secured $15 million to expand Project Gunrunner, an Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) initiative that seeks to stem the flow of guns from the United States to Mexico.  He also helped secure $30 million in grant funding for border law enforcement agencies to ensure they have the tools they need to fight crime. 

In addition to the border security funding, Bingaman reported that the emergency spending bill also contains $34.5 million for the National Nuclear Security Administration labs to sustain a nuclear weapons intelligence program to understand the advances in nuclear weapons by other countries.  Sandia National Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratory are two of the main participants in this program.  There is $55 million to help secure nuclear materials in Russia which Sandia has been participants in but not all to Sandia.