Please find below an example of UPI's continuing coverage of Homeland Security and related issues. I hope you find it interesting. You may link to it on the web here:
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20050504-083133-5796r UPI subscribers received this story when it was first published Wednesday afternoon. If you have any comments or questions about this piece, need any more information about UPI products and services, or want to stop receiving these alerts, please get in touch. Thank you, Shaun Waterman UPI Homeland and National Security Editor E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel: 202 898 8081 Lawmakers cut $800 million from DHS spending By Shaun Waterman UPI Homeland and National Security Editor WASHINGTON, May 4 (UPI) -- Lawmakers angry with the Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday they would withhold or delay nearly $800 million of funding because officials have not told them enough about how it is being spent. "It is a simple equation," said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky. "No information equals no money." Rogers called the department "a reluctant partner" and said it had "ignored requests for information and direction to move expeditiously in the implementation of important national polices and goals." "The department will find that the lack of information has cost them," Rogers said, opening a meeting of the House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee that was considering the department's 2006 budget request. The subcommittee agreed by voice vote to approve a spending bill for the department that cuts $485 million and delays another $310 million in funding until various reports and other information requested by Congress or required by law have been provided. The bill also eliminates the administration's proposed hike in airline security fees that would have added $3 a ticket to the cost of air travel and raised $1.5 billion for the department. The bill now goes to the full committee for further amendment, before being voted on the House floor. An equivalent bill is working its way through the Senate. Noting that there remained many opportunities to amend the bill before it is finalized, some congressional staffers suggested that the cuts were a warning shot across the bow of the department that might be restored if they improved their co-operation. Most dramatically, the bill almost halves the budget for the Coast Guard's huge Deepwater modernization and recapitalization project, from $966 million to $500 million. Rogers said the department had repeatedly failed to provide information about how the 20-year project would meet the new demands the war on terror was placing on the Coast Guard. "Absent a revised baseline that reflects post-Sept. 11 mission requirements," Rogers said, "Deepwater is funded at pre-Sept. 11 levels." The bill also cuts another $22 million from the department's information analysis and infrastructure-protection directorate, the Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency -- all of which are said to have been unresponsive to requests for information -- and delays $310 million in funding for the secretary's office and other elements of the department until further reports are provided. Some of the cuts are cumulative, building every day that the department fails to produce the required information or implement the required policies. The cuts are the culmination of a series of long-running disputes between the department and lawmakers, some of whom have repeatedly expressed irritation or even anger at departmental officials. Homeland Security spokeswoman Valerie Smith declined to characterize the department's reaction to the aggressive cuts, other than to say that officials hoped the funding would be restored and would "continue to work closely with Congress to ensure that the nation's security is properly funded." Smith added that the demands for information had been too extensive to respond to all at once and pointed out that "the secretary has asked Congress for help in prioritizing these many reports." A former senior official from the department, who asked for anonymity because he continued to deal with lawmakers in his new job, said while some of the issues raised by lawmakers were long-standing points of contention between Congress and the department, others were "in the pipeline" and would be resolved by the comprehensive department-wide review ordered by new Secretary Michael Chertoff. The official said he was somewhat surprised by the cuts, since he understood that the difficult relationship between the department and Congress had been improving of late. "Throughout last year, the Legislative Affairs Office was getting higher and higher marks from Congress," he said. "Appropriators are in a tough corner," the official continued, pointing out that by cutting the airline security fee hike, they had created a $1.5 billion dollar hole in the budget. "Between the increases for immigration enforcement that (lawmakers) want -- which are very expensive -- and the fee increase that they've eliminated, they have put incredible pressure on the budget," said the official. "Either they had to cut the budget, or they would have to get the taxpayer to find the extra money," he added, suggesting that lawmakers might have had other motives -- aside from their concern about the department's responsiveness to congressional requests and direction -- for the cuts. -- Copyright (c) 2001-2005 United Press International ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources often lacking in public schools. Fund a student project in NYC/NC today! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EHLuJD/.WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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