Now, at first, this seems like a small pittance of the federal cash pile, but one must take a closer look at the recipient just to see how much money this really is.
Sullivan city, located in deep South Texas (the valley) is a booming metropolis of 4,900 people. Now, I am not really sure how many police officers that Sullivan city has, but it cannot be more than 3 to 5 that are paid a salary.
The real question here, does it make sense for our U.S. government to give money to local police departments for border security, when they are furloughing real border patrol and C.B.P. bridge personnel?
Of course not, and it is just another indicator that the President of the United States is doing everything he and his cabinet can do to inflict pain of the people to score political points. Impeachable offense, YES.
Well, seems to me that the valley will vote demo so the line "to score political points" is mute.
ReplyDeleteLooking at this deeper the city did not have enough funds to cover security. This mention of the $50,000 is interesting since there are bigger amounts that of concern.
The sequester affects federal employees. Police departments are local entities. They get funds from a different pile of money.
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way, Congress is the one that doles out the cash, not the pres.
Tom Wade, you're on a roll but you need to pay more attention to your own posts. You guessed it's a 3-5 man force but the link you yourself provided reads as follows:
ReplyDeleteCity Manager Judy Davila said the nine-officer department otherwise cannot afford to pay officers overtime even when they were willing to put in more time working on border security.
Also, at the end of your self-described rant, you offer "Impeachable offense? Yes." Just exactly what is the offense you are referring to? Maybe you're right but I couldn't tell exactly what "offense" you refer to as being an impeachable one.
Keyrose, the president, as CEO of the country, has the authority to prioritize spending inside of each department. He can make the changes that would be needed to reduce some of his self-inflicted pain if he wished. But he did not. So here we are.
ReplyDeleteAnd the I fully understand budget lines, but the point is this, the federal government takes in trillions of dollars, and can afford to give $50,000 to a small town police department for border security, but will not fund the trained federal agents who only job it is to secure our border.
Max, thanks for pointing out the size of the department. I read over that.
ReplyDeleteThe impeachable offense is the President failing to preform his duties. National security is the first and foremost job of the federal government. That includes border security.
Tom, I think there is a lot of unforeseen fall-out with the sequester....the whole thing is a shame. There are inequities of logic in areas other than this, even- I am not convinced it is a calculated outcome but definitely think that the outcome is pretty awful in more ways than one....
ReplyDeleteBorder Patrol Agents are going to lose between 33 to 35% of their take home pay. For almost 3/4 of a century they have been a percentage of their salaries for working beyond a standard 8hr shift necessary to accomplish their mission. If you compare their overtime pay to that of corporate america,,, its a bargain to the taxpayer's purse strings compared to the daily perils they face defending America's Front Line.
ReplyDeleteNow take away approximately 1/3 (+|-) their pay with all the same risks. If the border residents aren't quaking in their boots,,, they should be!!! Can you say "systemic apathy "? This could quite possibly lead to professionally corruption and malfeasance paralleled only by that of Mexico not to mention the laps and gaps in enforcement which the criminal underworld will quickly recognize and capitalize on. This director of DHS would have you believe that "the border is safer than ever." Only a fool or the displaced ignorant would believe such belatent deception ...
Our border and our way of life is at risk,,, just like the Border Patrol agents, our guardian's way of life is. As citizens and taxpayers we need to be concerned an become involved.