You might recall that Reps. Dreier and Hunter tried -- ultimately unsuccessfully -- in the 108th Congress to sneak into the 9/11 bill conference committee some language that would empower the Secretary of Homeland Security to waive all federal law, in the Secretary's sole and unreviewable discretion, in order to expedite construction of barriers in the final stretch of the southern border. The Congressional Research Service has completed a report on the legal and historical context of that issue, which you can download here. Interestingly, in the CRS analysis, it looks like the only hitch to completion of the remaining section is a conflict between the drive to finish the barrier and California's protection of a coastal zone under a federal law that ultimately already permits the White House to waive when needed. So there is pretty much no need at all to revive the Ose/Dreier/Hunter amendment in the 109th.