Lieberman seeks more DHS money

Feb. 28, 2005 Lieberman letter

Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the Senate committee that oversees homeland security, wants the federal government to spend $8.4 billion more on homeland security-related programs than what President Bush proposed for next year.

According to his fiscal 2006 budget proposal, Bush asked for nearly $50 billion in homeland-security related funding, which is an increase of nearly $4 billion, or 8.6 percent, from fiscal 2005's level. The Homeland Security Department would get a $41.1 billion budget, which is about a 6.6 percent increase from this year's appropriation.

But in a 32-page letter to Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H), the Budget Committee's chairman, and Sen. Kent Conrad (D-S.D.), who is the top Democrat on that committee, Lieberman said the governmentwide increases related to homeland security are not dramatic considering needs in areas such as communications equipment and transportation security.

"Moreover, even the proposed increases are somewhat in doubt," Lieberman wrote in the letter dated Feb. 28. "For instance, virtually the entire increase in DHS's discretionary spending would come from proposed fee increases. The largest of these