House chair says border protection budget request lacks justification

The Homeland Security Department has provided Congress with "no justification" for the $6.7 billion it has budgeted for the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection in fiscal 2004, a House subcommittee chairman said Thursday.

During a hearing on border security spending, Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky., told former Rep. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark., now the department's undersecretary for border and transportation security, that he is "extremely disappointed" with the delay in explaining the budget request.

"If such funding is urgently required, as I believe it is, the details, plans and specifics to back up the request should have been available long ago," Rogers said. He also noted that the department did not submit materials to support its proposed $2.8 billion for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement until this week.

The bureaus are part of the Border and Transportation Security Directorate, which would receive $18.1 billion under President Bush's request.

"The request reflects the administration's commitment to the mission and priorities of the directorate," Hutchinson said. "That includes securing the nation's borders, transportation systems, ports of entry and points in between."

Hutchinson said the proposed $6.7 billion budget for customs and border protection would be a 33 percent increase over fiscal 2002 spending and would include $62 million for the Container Security Initiative, which enables U.S. customs agents to work with 18 of the world's largest foreign ports to screen U.S.-bound cargo containers.

"As we move forward with that, we want to make sure that it is scientifically based, and that we are able to get the information that's gained from that to the other agencies that might have a need for it," Hutchinson said.

The budget also includes $18 million for the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, a pilot program that provides a "fast lane" into the United States for 2,000 participating companies that have taken steps to secure their cargo supply chains.

Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., whose district includes the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, said many existing technologies have not been deployed to protect Americans from terrorist threats.