Local Security Grants Cut by Nearly Half
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President Bush is proposing to increase the Department of Homeland Security's discretionary budget by $2.7 billion, to $37.6 billion, while slashing grants for state and local first responders by nearly half to pay for a continued buildup of border security.
The administration also is trying for the third time in four years to raise security fees for air travel. Congress rejected past attempts, but this time the department says the $426 million raised would speed deployment of advanced baggage-screening equipment at airports by six years, to 2012.
Overall, the department would collect $3.1 billion in fees, bringing its total discretionary budget to $40.7 billion, a 7 percent boost. Priorities include $775 million to install border barriers and surveillance technology, $442 million to hire 2,200 new Border Patrol agents and $46 million to add 1,000 detention beds.
Grants to states and cities for security, law enforcement, firefighters and emergency medical teams would be reduced by 47 percent, or $1.9 billion. Congress last year reversed a White House attempt to cut state and local grants by 40 percent, instead adding $1 billion.
The budget would boost spending on cybersecurity for federal agencies by $81 million and would include $1.7 million to launch the first quadrennial homeland security review, adopting the military's four-year planning process.
-- Spencer S. Hsu
