For Immediate Release
June 11, 2007
Contact: Steve Ellis
202-546-8500 x126

TCS ANALYSIS OF THE HOUSE FY2008 DEPARTMENT OF
HOMELAND SECURITY SPENDING BILL

Washington, D.C. – The following is a written statement by Ryan Alexander, President of Taxpayers for Common Sense, on the 2008 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Bill:

The Homeland Security subcommittee’s spending bill certainly takes some small steps in the right direction, but makes some expensive missteps as well. Throwing money at our security problems doesn’t make our country safer, it only makes worse the nation’s fiscal health. In light of the extra billion in unrequested homeland security funds added to the 2007 Emergency Supplemental, the committee could have brought the legislation in line with President’s budget. Instead, the committee’s mark is $2.1 billion more than the Administration’s request.

EARMARKS

The subcommittee clearly misses the boat on earmark reform, by resorting to a childish “you do it too” debate on earmarks with the administration. It includes some earmark disclosure, but only for administration earmarks in the budget, not its own. This tit-for-tat on earmarks misses the point. Taxpayers have the fundamental right to know about all earmarks. Both congressional and administration projects should be disclosed in legislation before the full House casts a single vote.

Some of the administration earmarks the Committee highlights in the bill include a Sierra Vista, AZ hangar and flight center; Yuma, AZ hangar; Uvalde, TX hangar; Laredo, TX hangar; Marfa, TX hangar, Three Points, AZ border patrol station, Sasabe, AZ border patrol station; Boulevard, CA, border patrol station; and Blythe, CA border patrol station.

GOOD CONTRACT REFORM

The legislation does do some good things. DHS is spending more than $15 billion, or about 40% of its budget, on contracts and other acquisitions. The bill requires that all grant and contract funds must go through a full and open competitive process except where other funding distribution mechanisms are in statute or there is an emergency requirement. The committee reveals a recent FEMA report documents 3,982 contracts that we never competitively bid.

BAD CONTRACT REFORM

Another interesting item in the legislation that unfortunately didn’t make the final version was Section 534, which would have disallowed any entity acting as a ‘Lead Systems Integrator’ on a major weapons system to have any financial interest in the development or construction of any individual system except in very limited circumstances. This provision was cut before the bill made it to the floor.

The Appropriations Committee appears to be going through the same growing pains as the Department of Homeland Security. That agency is rife with acquisition failures and questionable projects: the Coast Guard’s Deepwater acquisition, the Secure Border Initiative, US-VISIT, to name a few. But the committee seems to be unable or unwilling to do anything more than add a few feeble strings and make a few nips and tucks to the program budget.

US-VISIT

The US-VISIT system is supposed to track biometrics (fingerprints) of every visitor to the U.S. The Committee points out that the system has had repeated setbacks and few successes: 80,000,000 visitors processed, 1,800 violators caught. US-VISIT fails to serve as a deterrent, as watch list hits only declined by 100 between 2005 and 2006. DHS failed to submit an expenditure report as required by law. The committee included a section called “Exit Soluti.png” in their report. You might think that it was about getting out of this multi-billion white elephant, but instead it is about how the system won’t be able to track visitors exiting the country. The system only tracks entry, but not exit. After all that, the program received another $462 million.