A State Senate Committee has voted to spend $30 million tax dollars to monitor the federal government’s efforts to secure the border.

State Sen. Bob Worsley wants to establish a network of infrared cameras and sensors about every mile along the border so anyone on the Internet could see what’s going on in real time.

“This is not a budget to interdict or to stop any activity,” Worsley said. “This is monitoring independently the claims of our federal government relative to how secure our border is.”

State Sen. Chester Crandell says spending money to help the Department of Public Safety actually secure the border is a lot different from letting the public watch what’s going on.

“I'm not sure it's a good wise use of money just to tell the federal government, 'Ha, ha, we can see what you're doing and we don't agree with what you're doing,’” Crandell said.

In the end, the measure was approved on a 4-3, party-line vote of the Senate Government and Environment Committee.