Senate Plan Includes CA Port Security Initiatives

According to the SB Sun, California would get $30m for a controversial fence along the Mexican border under a Senate plan that allocates $288m for nationwide construction on the border.

The measure, which also sets aside $65m for border security - including 1,000 new Border Patrol agents - is one of several spending bills the Senate is expected to consider this week that would provide billions of dollars to California for such projects as food stamps, wildfire protection and Inland Empire perchlorate treatment.

But the $31.7b Department of Homeland Security bill is by far the largest and would provide some of the most direct funding for California's anti-terrorism efforts and its attempts to block illegal immigration.

The measure includes $139m to safeguard containers coming into ports and $210m for other port-security initiatives. It also carves out more than $3b for a range of state and local terrorism-prevention grants. It remains unclear how much Los Angeles or the rest of California would get from that pot. In a separate spending bill for nationwide energy and water projects, Sen. Dianne Feinstein secured $75.5 million for levee restoration. Noting that a collapse of the San Joaquin Delta levees could threaten two-thirds of the state's drinking water, Feinstein said federal protection is long overdue. The money comes on top of $30.4 million that Congress provided for the state's levee system this year. The water bill, which also pays for Army Corps of Engineers construction projects, includes $4m for water recycling in the South Bay, $5.5m to help restore the Los Angeles River, $1m to deepen the Los Angeles Harbor and $5m for a deepening project around the Port of Long Beach. Source: San Bernardino Sun