The chairman of the House panel that oversees funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) yesterday said that the FY ’09 budget request for Homeland Security is essentially flat and doesn’t meet ongoing needs.
“Such a flat budget fails to address many of the nation’s continuing and unmet homeland security needs,” Rep. David Price (D-N.C.) said at the outset of a hearing to examine the DHS budget request for FY ’09. Price said the $38.8 billion DHS is seeking in discretionary funding for next year is just $97 million more than the current budget.
Price said he is comparing the FY ’08 request against the FY ’08 budget and additional emergency supplemental funding that was approved for DHS.
One area of concern for Price is funding for explosive detection systems for aviation security. Price said $153.9 million is being approved for aviation explosives detection systems, a 48 percent cut from the current year. He acknowledged that DHS wants to make up a portion of the cut through a passenger surcharge that would be levied by the airlines.
However, Price said it’s uncertain whether congressional authorizers will approve the surcharge. “We’ve only made a dent in the $5 billion funding needs in this area so I doubt whether the appropriators can or should reduce funding here even if the authorizing committees were to act on the surcharges,” he said.
Price also said he is concerned about nearly 50 percent cuts in grant funding for first responders, transit and port security programs. He also said that funding for the REAL ID drivers license initiative is below needs.