How times change.
Four years ago, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano sent the feds a bill for $118 million, the amount she said the state had paid to incarcerate illegal immigrant prisoners.
Now, as an A-list fed herself, Napolitano expects residents of her former home to be happy with $12.8 million in extra border security funds. The money is part of a $60 million package given nationwide, (to be fair, Arizona is getting the second biggest slice of the pie).
Napolitano is supposedly still pushing to get the feds to reiumburse states for the cost of imprisoning foreigners who commit crimes in the United States. But we're not hearing the same "frustration" that led to comments like these on CNN:
So I -- we haven't been getting reimbursed our actual costs, and I said it's time to send the federal government a bill. They need to abide by their promise.
Ya. When was the last time Napolitano reminded anyone of that promise, do you think?
LOU DOBBS: The idea that President Bush when he was the governor of the state of Texas was absolutely supportive of the programs that reimbursed states for the costs incurred. What has been the response from the White House? Has there been any?
NAPOLITANO: Well, it has been underwhelming, to say the least. The president and his budgets has consistently zeroed out any money for the states for the costs of incarcerating illegal aliens.
Now check this out from the above-linked Los Angeles Times article:
Faced with a mounting federal budget deficit, the Obama administration has not committed to increasing funding to cover the costs of incarcerating illegal immigrants. But at the very least, President Obama is expected to be more supportive than former President Bush, who sought to eliminate such funding.
Perhaps the last sentence explains why Napolitano is no longer frustrated. Obama will make everything okay.
