Congress Set to Pass Border Fence Bill

Congress is making a move on one of the hottest issues in this election year: immigration. Lots of Americans support building a fence along the U.S -Mexico border, and now Congress is voting "Yes" on that. It shows that, once again, immigration and national security are key voter issues in this year's elections. The Senate bill will allow construction of 700 miles of fence along the border between Mexico and the U.S. The House has already passed it. Thursday, the House approved a bill making President Bush's warrant-less wiretapping program legal, but with some new restrictions. And the Senate passed a bill - along party lines - endorsing the military program for interrogating and prosecuting suspected terrorists. Democrats complain of the timing, arguing the struggling gop is trying to play its national security trump card just a few weeks before the midterm elections. Senator Patrick Leahy said, "There's no new national security crisis. Apparently there's only a Republican political crisis." There's no doubt that Republicans will go back to their districts next month claiming they got tough on immigration with the fence bill and tough with terrorists too. They'll portray the Democrats as weak on security. House Speaker Dennis Hastert recently said that Democrats are in favor of more rights for terrorists. President Bush is blasting them for their retreat-and-defeat stance in Iraq, a theme he echoed in a speech on Thursday. Bush said, "The party of FDR and the party of Harry Truman has become the party of cut-and-run." The White House is banking on the fact that cut-and-run is a losing strategy for the Democrats. And even though the war in Iraq may be unpopular, Bush administration officials are optimistic that it won't be enough to put Democrats in control of Congress and leave President Bush in lame duck status for the final two years of his presidency.