U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Calvin Overway clears the area around a hole during a mission to clear insurgents from the Chaka Four region south of Baghdad, Iraq, Jan. 10, 2008. Overway is assigned to 502nd Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Kim Smith.
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Pork alert: Homeland insecurity
By: News Bites | Submitted on: 06/28/08(SGT NEWS BITE) - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today released its preliminary analysis of the House version of the Fiscal 2009 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Appropriations Act. There are 102 projects for a total of $120.1 million in this year’s House DHS bill. The top six porkers are Reps. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) with $15 million; Harold “Hal” Rogers (R-Ky.) with $13.4 million; and Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), John Culberson (R-Texas), Peter King (R-N.Y.), and David Price (D-N.C.) with $6 million each.
As is usually the case with appropriations, the House bill was stuffed full of pet projects. The following are some outrageous examples of pork that members of the House added to the Homeland Security bill:
* $24.9 million for 51 projects for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Predisaster Mitigation by 56 members, spread among 26 states.
* $22.1 million for 33 projects for FEMA State and Local Programs by 35 members, spread among 19 states.
* $11 million by House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Harold Rogers (R-Ky.) for the National Institute for Hometown Security (NIHS). According to the Institute’s website, “NIHS is a private, non-profit 501 (c)3 corporation. NIHS was organized in 2004 through the leadership of Kentucky Fifth District Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers. Congressman Rogers suggested organizing the higher education institutions of Kentucky to more effectively compete for research funds and projects aimed at improving homeland security. The Kentucky Homeland Security University Consortium resulted from his efforts. NIHS is the administrative manager for the Consortium.”
* $5 million by House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman David Price (D-N.C.) for a study on the impact of climate on future disasters in the state of North Carolina.
* $250,000 by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) for a perimeter security and noise abatement study at the James J. Rowley Training Center in Maryland.
Link to full article (opens in new window)
As is usually the case with appropriations, the House bill was stuffed full of pet projects. The following are some outrageous examples of pork that members of the House added to the Homeland Security bill:
* $24.9 million for 51 projects for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Predisaster Mitigation by 56 members, spread among 26 states.
* $22.1 million for 33 projects for FEMA State and Local Programs by 35 members, spread among 19 states.
* $11 million by House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Harold Rogers (R-Ky.) for the National Institute for Hometown Security (NIHS). According to the Institute’s website, “NIHS is a private, non-profit 501 (c)3 corporation. NIHS was organized in 2004 through the leadership of Kentucky Fifth District Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers. Congressman Rogers suggested organizing the higher education institutions of Kentucky to more effectively compete for research funds and projects aimed at improving homeland security. The Kentucky Homeland Security University Consortium resulted from his efforts. NIHS is the administrative manager for the Consortium.”
* $5 million by House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman David Price (D-N.C.) for a study on the impact of climate on future disasters in the state of North Carolina.
* $250,000 by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) for a perimeter security and noise abatement study at the James J. Rowley Training Center in Maryland.
Link to full article (opens in new window)
News Bites are short one or two paragraph excerpts of external news articles with links to the original source.
