Move to cancel border security contract hotly debated in House

Heated debate erupted Friday in the House on an amendment to prohibit the Homeland Security Department from spending any money on a $10 billion contract it recently awarded to Bermuda-based Accenture Ltd.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., offered the amendment to stop the contract, arguing it is "anti-American" to award a contract for protecting the country's borders to a company that has located outside those borders.

"We should not be giving government contracts to companies that diminish their tax liabilities," she added.

DeLauro proposed the amendment after language she successfully added to the bill to stop the contract was struck on a point of order. Opponents of DeLauro's amendment argued that nixing the contract would delay securing the nation's borders for two years and cost the jobs of 330,000 U.S. workers employed under Accenture's partnership with other companies for the contract. The Homeland Security Department awarded Accenture a five-year contract for a minimum of $10 million and a maximum of $10 billion to implement its new border security system.

A vote on DeLauro's amendment and other pending proposals were expected later Friday afternoon as the House worked toward expected passage of the fiscal 2005 Homeland Security appropriations bill. The White House Thursday signaled its support for the bill, urging in a Statement of Administration Policy that Congress "expedite passage of the bill." But the administration asked for changes in the bill such as adding more funding to protect high-threat urban areas.

DeLauro won a partial victory on language she has attempted to enact for two years to stop the department from awarding contracts to offshore companies.

In a "spirit of compromise," according to Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., opponents did not object to broader language on future contracts approved by the Appropriations Committee that also banned the Accenture contract. But DeLauro balked at that notion, saying opponents of her amendment would presumably work to strike the future contract language during House-Senate conference negotiations on the spending bill.

Lawmakers also took another shot at ensuring funding for high-threat urban areas. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., offered an amendment to limit the total amount of grants given to urban areas to guarantee that only high-threat areas receive the money. The amendment follows a vote late Thursday night rejecting an amendment by Rep. John Sweeney, R-N.Y., to shift $450 million to such areas. Lawmakers defeated Sweeney's amendment along rural and urban lines by a 237-171 vote. The House did approve an amendment Thursday night to appropriate $50 million for grants to hire more local firefighters.