Border Fence- The Cost is Far Too High (tags)
A study released last December by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service says a proposed 700 mile stretch of fence, along the 2,000 mile U.S. – Mexico border, could cost an estimated $49 billion. But what the report fails to say, U.S. –built walls on the border would cost both the U.S. and Mexico trillions of dollars in economic losses over the predicted 25-year lifespan of the fence, and non-monetary damage to political and cultural relations between the two countries would also last for decades.
Millions Struggling to Survive On Low Wages (tags)
The 110th Congress is now in session and congressional leaders are expected to move on a broad range of critical matters that are a vital concern to the entire nation; topping the list is the Iraq War, the national debt, the balance of trade, affordable health care, immigration, solving the nation’s energy crisis, the environment, and minimum wage. Congress is expected to move quickly to raise the federal minimum wage from the present rate of $5.15 to $7.25 per hour by 2009; it will be the first such increase since 1997.