**PRESIDENT'S BUDGET ON HOMELAND SECURITY:**

**MORE OF THE SAME MISPLACED PRIORITIES**

***PUTTING SPECIAL INTERESTS AHEAD OF AMERICA'S FAMILIES***

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| **Key Points:**                                                       |
|                                                                       |
| -   **In his budget, the President is once again proposing to         |
|     [eliminate]{.underline} port security grants by rolling them into |
|     an inadequately funded, larger grant program -- thereby forcing   |
|     port officials to compete for funding against trains, trucks,     |
|     buses and other public transit.**                                 |
|                                                                       |
| ```{=html}                                                            |
| <!-- -->                                                              |
| ```                                                                   |
| -   **The President's budget [slashes]{.underline} funding for first  |
|     responder programs within the Department of Homeland Security by  |
|     25 percent and slashes funding for the COPS program by 79         |
|     percent.**                                                        |
|                                                                       |
| -   **While slashing key security initiatives, the budget maintains   |
|     the status quo at FEMA -- which has failed the people of the Gulf |
|     Coast and protected the Administration's special-interest         |
|     friends, allowing major waste, fraud and abuse in Katrina         |
|     contracting -- with large, no-bid and limited-bid contracts going |
|     to politically-connected firms.**                                 |
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Democrats believe we must pursue new policies that take our country in a
different direction. The Bush Administration's FY 2007 budget fails on
that score; it continues with more of the same wrong priorities that
have taken our country in the wrong direction. It puts special interests
first and the American people last. It is [fiscally
reckless]{.underline}, adding trillions to the deficit over the next 10
years, and [morally irresponsible]{.underline}, slashing funding for key
priorities to America's middle class. Democrats are fighting to restore
fiscal responsibility and to bring real solutions to the American
people, along with economic prosperity, a strong national defense,
affordable health care and energy, and strong public schools.

**Only increases the Homeland Security budget by 1 percent, when
fee-related items are excluded.** The budget requests \$35.6 billion in
discretionary funding for Department of Homeland Security (DHS) programs
in FY 2007 -- which represents an increase of \$2.3 billion or 7 percent
over this year's level. However, if you subtract out all of the
fee-related items in the budget, the increase is 1 percent -- less than
the expected rate of inflation of 2.4 percent.

**Like last year, provides [no]{.underline} dedicated funding for port
security.** A weapon of mass destruction detonated in a cargo container
or at a seaport could cause thousands of casualties and an economic loss
of billions of dollars. To begin addressing port security issues, since
9/11, Congress has appropriated a total of \$765 million for port
security grants, including \$173 million in FY 2006 -- to help our
seaports adopt important security enhancements. The Coast Guard has
estimated that needed port security improvements could cost more than
\$5 billion. And yet, like last year, the President's budget once again
proposes [terminating]{.underline} funding dedicated to port security.
Last year, Congress rejected this proposal and must do so again this
year.

**Like last year, creates an infrastructure protection grant program,
with no guaranteed funding for ports, railroads, or any other
infrastructure.** Like last year, the President's budget eliminates the
\$173 million port security grant program, creating instead an
infrastructure protection grant program, which supposedly will provide
grants to help ports, railroads, public transit authorities, and other
infrastructure implement security enhancements. This infrastructure
program is inadequately budgeted for only \$600 million. At the moment,
there are no details on how such funding will be distributed and to
whom. As the American Association of Port Authorities has pointed out,
*"Similar to last year, the President's 2007 budget recommends lumping
the security infrastructure needs of seaports with those of trains,
trucks, buses and other public transit into a new Targeted
Infrastructure Protection (TIP) program. ...When the Administration
proposed lumping port security into the TIP last year, the proposal was
debated in the congressional appropriations process and rejected. It's
not in the nation's best interests to dilute the focus on maritime
security."* The funding shortfall estimates for the protection of our
ports, our railroads, our public transit systems, and other
infrastructure far exceed the \$600 million allotted -- and will lead to
many important security needs continuing to go unmet.

**Includes a net cut in funding for first responders of 25 percent.**
Police departments nationwide do not have the protective gear to safely
secure a site after the detonation of a weapon of mass destruction and
fire departments have only enough radios for half the firefighters on a
shift. And yet the budget includes a net cut in first responder funding
within the Department of Homeland Security of \$573 million, or 25
percent. Within this total, the budget slashes the Firefighter Grant
program by \$355 million and eliminates all funding for law enforcement
terrorism prevention, a reduction of \$385 million. These cuts are
partially offset by an \$87 million increase for first responder
formula-based grants and an \$80 million increase for specific
high-threat urban areas.

**Slashes aid to state and local law enforcement.** The budget slashes
aid to state and local law enforcement in the Justice Department,
including the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant program and the COPS
program. President Bush proposes completely eliminating the
newly-created \$327 million Byrne Justice Assistance Grant program
(which consolidated the Byrne Grant program with the Local Law
Enforcement Block Grant). In addition, the Bush budget proposes slashing
the COPS program by \$376 million or by 79 percent. The budget also
permanently reduces unobligated balances in the COPS program by \$128
million in FY 2007, thus setting the program on the path for
elimination.

**Eliminates COPS Interoperable Communications Grant program.**
Hurricane Katrina exposed that, four years after 9/11, little progress
has been made in creating a system where police, fire and emergency
medical service departments can communicate with each other. And yet the
budget would eliminate the very popular and successful COPS
Interoperable Communications Grant program which is charged with
awarding technology grants to law enforcement agencies for enhancing
interoperability. The Republican Congress gutted the program last year
(reducing its funding from \$93 million in FY 2005 to \$10 million in FY
2006) and now the President is proposing eliminating it.

**Continues FEMA as a dysfunctional agency.** Despite the fact that over
the last six months, FEMA has proven to be a dysfunctional agency, the
budget includes [no]{.underline} reforms of FEMA. Under the Bush
Administration, since FEMA was placed in the Department of Homeland
Security, it has been undermined and weakened. Under this
Administration, FEMA has been led by several cronies, not just Michael
Brown -- when Katrina struck, [five]{.underline} of the top eight FEMA
officials had come to FEMA with no previous disaster experience.
Furthermore, there has been documented waste, fraud and abuse in
Katrina-related contracts -- with large contracts going to
politically-connected firms, with no-bid or limited-bid contracts.

**Fees paid by airline passengers represent most of the increase in the
President's homeland security budget.** The \$2.3 billion increase in
funding for the Department of Homeland Security in FY 2007 includes
\$1.6 billion in new revenues from higher aviation security fees paid by
airline passengers. Under the President's budget, fees for a one-way
flight would jump by \$2.50 to \$5.00 for a one-way flight. The higher
fees would mean that airline passengers would be paying about 70 percent
of the cost of the Federal Government's aviation security program.

**Eliminates funding for Metropolitan Medical Response System.** The
budget eliminates funding for the \$30 million Metropolitan Medical
Response System. This DHS program provides funding for hospitals and EMS
services in major metropolitan areas to enhance their preparedness.

![](media/image1.wmf)Office of the House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi,
March 1, 2006