Appropriators tighten defense, security spending

Congressional appropriators are beginning to tighten the budget screws on runaway Defense Department spending and Homeland Security Department programs that are not showing results, according to an analysis released Thursday by an industry consulting firm.

Reston, Va.-based Input, which helps companies understand government spending, said the recently enacted fiscal 2007 budgets for those departments show that appropriators increasingly are turning a wary eye toward Defense supplemental funding requests and Homeland Security programs that are not producing.

Input analyst James Krouse said the budgets show that Congress will continue to provide significant funding where needed to support critical missions, but lawmakers are trying to slow spending in areas that do not have sound budget justifications.

In the fiscal 2007 Defense budget, for example, appropriators provided more overall funding than the White House requested, with the apparent intent that doing so will begin to end the department's practice of requesting additional funds each year, Krouse said.

"They baked in a larger percentage of money with the understanding that at some point supplementals will cease," he said. "What we see is almost a cap in supplemental funding coming. That's not what we've seen in the last two or three years."

The department, however, is still expected to ask for at least one more supplemental in fiscal 2007, Krouse added. Although Defense spending ended up close to the administration's original request, increased congressional oversight and budget pressures are likely to continue through the next budget cycle, according to Input.

Budget pressure also is increasing on Homeland Security, although for somewhat different reasons. According to Input's analysis, the department's budget provides significant funding to support border operations, including response and detection capabilities.

"These three areas were highlighted by Congress as most critical for homeland security needs and were funded accordingly," Krouse said. But he added that "Congress is turning up the heat on cost justifications, performance results and the expected results of high-risk [department] information technology programs."

Kraus noted that Homeland Security is a new department that has been reorganized internally since its creation three years ago. But he said patience from appropriators appears to be wearing thin.

Krouse said, for example, that appropriators told him during interviews that they are concerned the department is not getting the best results when it comes to spending on grants to emergency responders, including for systems to help them communicate across jurisdictions.

"A lot has been appropriated, but not a lot has been accomplished," he said. "What, as far as a return in investment, are we showing for Homeland Security to date?"