Author of border wall law says 'naysayers' are inflating price tag

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Author of border wall law says 'naysayers' are inflating price tag

By MICHELLE MITTELSTADT

2007 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — The author of the law that requires walling off 700 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border scoffed Friday at government estimates pegging construction and maintenance costs as high as $49 billion.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., dismissed recent estimates by the Congressional Research Service as "phony analyses" by "naysayers." He emphasized his belief that the fencing segments, which would span more than 300 miles of Texas' border with Mexico, could be built for $2.1 billion, or $3 million a mile.

As proof, Hunter cited bids from three contractors who say they can build the required double-layered fencing for less than the $3 million a mile.

The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, whose estimates are highly regarded by members of Congress from both parties, reported recently that fence construction and maintenance costs over 25 years could be as high as $70 million a mile.

"You have a crowd of bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., whom I call the 'mission impossible' crowd, who come up with a way not to comply with what the American people want them to do," Hunter said at a news conference with Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa.

King, in the construction business before coming to Congress, was equally critical of the report.

"It's ridiculous," he said. "I think their numbers are grossly inflated."

The Republicans' estimates don't include the costs of acquiring land, expected litigation fees or maintenance. But Hunter said those costs would be minimal.

He and King insisted the fencing would pay for itself many times over, considering that the U.S. spends more than $8 billion a year on border security and another $3 billion incarcerating illegal immigrants convicted of crimes.

But the fence bill has proved highly controversial in communities along the border.

Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn, Texas Republicans who support fencing as a facet of an overall border security plan, have invited Texas border-city mayors to Washington for a Wednesday meeting. The mayors will tell Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff of their concerns that fences would disrupt life and commerce along the border.

Hutchison, in particular, has been arguing that the law should not dictate where fencing should be built. She says the Department of Homeland Security, in consultation with border authorities, should decide on the locations.

In Texas, fences have been mandated for a 305-mile stretch from Laredo to Brownsville and a 64-mile stretch from Del Rio to Eagle Pass.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/4468140.html