Obama Really Serious About Border Enforcement, Slashes OT for Agents

He manages to find an 11% increase in education spending and $451 million for NPR and PBS, but when it comes to securing our borders, suddenly the president is a spendthrift.

Border Patrol agents would lose money under a change in the overtime pay proposed in the $3.7 trillion budget President Barack Obama sent Congress Monday, the agent's union said Wednesday.

The proposal is an attempt to save $110 million by changing the overtime system for Border Patrol agents, who are paid time and a half for their first ten hours of overtime per week, and half-time for any additional unscheduled overtime hours. The president's budget proposes to pay agents straight-time for their first ten hours of overtime per week, and no compensation for any additional, unscheduled overtime hours.

That ought to provide a great incentive for agents to work harder. They bust their asses with little reward and now have even less. Maybe they ought to look into getting a job at NPR.

"They are trying to save money on the backs of agents," said T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, the agents' union.