Dec 2, 2007 6:50 am US/Eastern
Bush Administration Plans Security Funding Cut
Local Lawmakers Hammer Plan
WASHINGTON (CBS) ―
President Bush is considering a massive cut in nation-wide homeland security aid that would dry up all federal funds to protect the New York City subways, among other things.
They're all over the city -- reminders of the government's vast anti-terrorism campaign. But is it worth the money? The Bush administration is suddenly expressing doubts.
A White House budget memo has ordered up a whopping 50 percent cut in anti-terror funds - which could cost the city $200 million. Local officials are fuming.
"Is the White House on same planet as the rest of us," asked Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. "Homeland security doesn't matter? It's confounding."
In addition, the White House is considering a complete halt to funding for transit and port protection, a proposal Mayor Bloomberg called "stunning."
Republican Peter King promises to fight the move.
"If these cuts end up in the President's budget it will be absolutely disgraceful," said King.
King, who is on the House Committee on Homeland Security, says the Department of Homeland Security had proposed full funding for the program, but has been thwarted by the president's budget office.
"Some of these guys in the budget office have no sense of reality," King told CBS 2 HD. "One number's the same as the other."
The White House memo questions the $23 billion already spent on anti-terror efforts since 9/11. The memo says, "It remains unclear what years of annual grant awards have achieved."
It's a sentiment shared by some conservative activists and scholars.
"I think we haven't been hit since 2001, and before that hadn't been hit since 1993," said Heather MacDonald, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute. "There's not a need for continuing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year on a threat that's been possibly over-calculated."
The president won't submit his budget until February. That leaves time for local officials to convince him to restore at least some of the money.
The White house says it has made no final decisions on the matter.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
