Governmental Affairs Committee ranking member Joe
Lieberman, D-Conn., is proposing a $14 billion supplement
to the $47 billion requested in President Bush’s fiscal
2005 budget for the Department of Homeland Security,
according to the Senate committee’s website.
Lieberman said that the current request only allows for
a 4 percent increase in discretionary spending, would
not allow for new security initiatives, and would cut
aid to first responders.
In a letter to Budget Committee Chairman Don Nickels,
R-Okla., and Ranking Member Kent Conrad, D-N.D.,
Lieberman said $6.6 billion of the additional funds
should go to first responders for preparedness and
interoperable communications equipment.
He also argued that the administration used an “accounting
anomaly” to make it appear that it is proposing $2.5
billion for Bioshield, a bioterror defense program,
for fiscal 2005, but that the funds are for the next
four years.
