
U.S. Senator Tom Udall joined the Appropriations Committee in approving a bill that contains funding for the aerostat radar system and for maintaining roads heavily used by Border Patrol agents.
Udall requested $35.6 million to fund the Tethered Aerostat Radar System – a system with a site in Luna County as well as five other sites on the Southwest border, one in Florida and one in Puerto Rico.
And Udall requested a provision in the bill directing Customs and Border Protection officials to help fund maintenance and repairs on county roads used primarily for border patrols. The provision urges the CBP to work with counties along the U.S.-Mexico border and to incorporate the maintenance and repair of the identified high-priority county access roads into its Tactical Infrastructure Maintenance and Repair program.
The bill also includes funding to help facilitate interstate commerce at our nation’s ports of entry – including the one in Columbus – and contains funding to maintain the current level of 21,370 Border Patrol agents nationwide.