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Can Security be bought? Congress Negotiates the Homeland Security Spending Bill

Everyone is concerned about security, but who is paying for it? The short answer is - we are.

Money from the federal treasury is designated to homeland security projects through a homeland security appropriations bill, which Congress must pass and the president must sign.

So, the people that we elect decide how to spend our tax dollars on something as important as homeland security. It’s your tax dollars, your representation, and your security. You have a right to know how it’s going:

The Senate began debate on the fiscal 2005 homeland security appropriations bill on September 8, 2004; the House already passed the measure on June 18, 2004.

Democrats and Republicans working together - sort of

Senate Democrats and Republicans agreed to add only amendments that are directly associated with the bill, called "germane" amendments, because unrelated amendments often stall a bill.

However, Republicans shot down Democrats’ germane amendments. For example, Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) attempted to add $150 million to the bill for port security, and Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) wanted to add $2 billion to the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) spending on rail and port security and grants to first responders (ambulances, police, fire fighters, public health doctors, hospitals).

Republicans blocked these amendments through a procedural move called a budgetary point of order. In a defense appropriations bill passed earlier this year, Congress agreed to certain spending caps, and any proposal that exceeds those caps - like Schumer’s and Byrd’s amendments -- can be stopped through a budgetary point of order. The point of order can be overcome by 60 votes or more, but neither of these amendments had enough backing to do so.

Although Democrats’ efforts were thwarted, Democratic minority leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) has promised that Democrats will not block the overall spending bill.

Both sides are committed to passing the legislation because they recognize the importance of security funding, and neither side wants to be painted as anti-security.

Legislators get creative

In order to get extra money for security spending, Senators extended Customs user fees that were set to expire in March 2005. Extending the fees for seven more months gives legislators $687 million more to work with, which eases the worry about exceeding spending caps.

Where’s the extra cash going? To Canadian border security ($200 million), radiation detection devices ($40 million), rail and transit security ($81 million), and grants to potential terrorist targets such as synagogues, churches, and mosques ($50 million).

Congress was expected to extend Customs user fees for extra revenue this year, but no one knew where the extra revenue would go. Some wanted the fees to go towards a pending corporate tax bill.

Democrats probably would have appreciated some of the extra funds for their proposals, which Republicans claim to be too expensive. Before a final vote on the bill, Democrats are expected to attempt a few more add-ons, including a Schumer proposal that would add $100 million for truck security; the amendment would create a tracking system for hazardous-materials trucks and establish background checks for commercial driver’s licenses.

This time, Schumer won’t fall for the Republicans’ budget-point-of-order tactic. He plans to offset his $100 million idea with funds subtracted from DHS’s human resources account.

Bill stats

The homeland security appropriations bill is likely to pass on September 14 or 15, 2004 and then go to conference committee, where legislators work out the differences in the House and Senate versions.

The overall value of the bill is $33.1 billion, plus the $687 million added through Customs user fees. Most of it is discretionary spending money for DHS, but $5.2 billion will go to the Transportation Security Administration and $2.5 billion for Project Bioshield, whose mission is to prepare the U.S. for a biological or chemical terrorist attack.

The question is: will these billions make us safe? Are expensive security measurers as effective as good foreign policy? What about our economic security? Would these funds be better spent if they were applied to our yawning deficit?

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Update Posted on: 9/14/2004