Administration budget shortchanges ‘urgent’ security needs, Lieberman says

The influential chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is urging congressional appropriators to substantially increase funding for the Homeland Security Department in 2009, especially for grants to state and local entities with responsibilities for security and emergency response. The administration is requesting $50.5 billion for the department.

"The proposed budget, once again, shortchanges too many urgent homeland security needs," said Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn. "I am particularly troubled by the aggressive cuts to core federal grant programs that states, municipalities and tribes rely on to keep their citizens safe."

Last Friday, in letters to Sens. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., and Judd Gregg, R-N.H., the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, Lieberman urged increasing funding for various homeland security grant programs, as well as more money to:

• Hire more Customs and Border Protection officers at ports of entry;
• Improve the screening system used to process travelers at ports of entry;
• Hire more FEMA employees and boost pre-disaster mitigation programs;
• Restore the Coast Guard's research and development budget, which the Bush administration wants to eliminate.

Further strengthening the agency is especially critical as the American Red Cross, upon which FEMA relies heavily during disasters, is undergoing significant staff cuts and reorganization due to its own funding deficit, he said. "Given FEMA's reliance on the American Red Cross in large part for mass care in the event of a disaster, I'm concerned that FEMA will also need additional resources to fill this gap," Lieberman said.

FEMA Administrator David Paulison, in an interview on Friday, said he'd consulted Red Cross officials and is confident that the reorganization under way at the aid agency will not jeopardize its ability to respond in a crisis.

In the area of border security, Lieberman urged caution in approving large sums for SBInet, the technology program that aims to create a virtual fence using sensors and surveillance technology along U.S. land borders. Boeing Co., the lead contractor on SBInet, has yet to resolve some outstanding problems on the prototype for the program, which is being developed along a 28-mile stretch of the border with Mexico south of Tucson, Ariz. Even if those problems were resolved to the satisfaction of Congress, full implementation of SBInet will require significant hardware and software modifications, Lieberman said. The administration wants $750 million for the program in 2009.

By far, the largest increase Lieberman is seeking is for grants to states and cities for security-related programs. He says the administration's budget request for grants falls woefully short of what's needed. Lieberman is requesting that Congress boost by more than $2 billion funding for various grant programs aimed at bolstering the capabilities of firefighters, medical personnel and other first responders; for developing interoperable communications systems; and for improving port, rail, mass transit, bus and truck security.

The showdown between the Bush administration and Congress over grants was expected. While Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the department's $50.5 billion budget request represented a 7 percent increase in funding over 2008 spending, he acknowledged that the administration sought to eliminate several grant programs popular with lawmakers.

"It's not a secret that Congress invariably appropriates more for grants than we request," Chertoff said during a Feb. 4 budget briefing. "I think the number that we've picked, which is the same we picked last year, is a sound and sensible number. If others in Congress have a different view, obviously, you know, in the end it's their purse strings."

Lieberman also urged full funding for a new agency headquarters. Various components of Homeland Security are now scattered among 70 buildings in 40 locations around the Washington metropolitan area. The administration wants $481.6 million for the General Services Administration and $120 million for Homeland Security to begin construction of a new headquarters building at the site of the now-closed St. Elizabeths Hospital in southeast Washington.

"We cannot expect DHS to succeed at its many challenging missions without the fundamental management tools that are taken for granted by much smaller organizations," Lieberman said. "A unified headquarters, which would bring together many of the department's components into a single facility and allow employees to work more efficiently and interactively, is such a fundamental tool.

"We should expedite efforts to get this project off the ground."