House spending panel slaps DHS for missed deadlines

House appropriators Wednesday decided to teach the Homeland Security Department a harsh lesson for not playing by their rules, approving $30.8 billion in funding for fiscal 2006, but cutting and withholding more than $700 million from various agencies.

House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky., followed through on recent threats to department officials that the appropriators would seek retribution for missed deadlines to provide the committee with information on missions.

"It's a simple equation: No information equals no money," Rogers said. "There are more than $485 million in cuts because we did not get information we needed to make informed decisions about programs and operations." The panel also withheld more than $240 million from various agencies until officials take action.

On the chopping block is the Coast Guard's Deepwater program, the Transportation Security Administration, new Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff's office and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The panel approved the bill by voice vote, preparing the measure for a full committee markup Tuesday.

Democrats on the panel agreed with Rogers' approach.

"I'm glad somebody pulls the government's chain when they are as contemptuous as [the department] has been towards the legislature," said Appropriations ranking member David Obey, D-Wis. "The department is a bloated mess. It's going to take a miracle to make it efficient."

The fiscal 2006 spending bill is the third funding measure for the department since Congress established it. Last year, the department received $32 billion in discretionary funding, which included $2.5 billion for the Bioshield program.

President Bush requested $34.2 billion for 2006, but that amount assumes $4.8 billion in fees for security, immigration and customs programs.

Rogers also decided to keep intact this year a ban on earmarks in the spending measure, arguing district projects would disrupt the department's formulas and procedures for funneling money to the nation's fire fighters, police officers and other emergency responders. Rogers' counterpart, Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Judd Gregg, R-N.H., is also leaning towards maintaining the ban, according to sources.

The subcommittee also decided this year not to increase funding for 'first-responder' grant programs, because state and local communities still have not spent $6.8 billion from previous years. The measure matched the president's $3.6 billion request for the programs.

Rogers said the spending bill "does not completely plug the $1.7 billion hole the president created by proposing a new passenger [airline ticket fee] -- a fee we cannot agree to." The Bush administration would like to raise the ticket fee from $5 to $8, but lawmakers have balked at the idea.

The panel chopped $466 million from the president's request for the Deepwater program -- a 20 year, multibillion dollar initiative to modernize the Coast Guard's cutter and helicopter fleet.

The Coast Guard would receive $500 million, but the panel withheld $50 million until the agency provides the panel with a report that reflects its homeland security mission needs.

TSA could also have $100,000 less every day after enactment until the agency meets a requirement from last year to triple the percentage of screened cargo.

The agency would also not receive $50 million until it delivers a plan to purchase and deploy explosive detection equipment at airports. Under the measure, TSA would receive $5.7 billion in 2006, slightly more than the $5.6 billion Bush proposed. TSA received $5.3 billion in fiscal 2005.