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U.S. Response: States Sacrifice to Pay Homeland Security Costs State and local security officials are struggling to find ways to pay for homeland security initiatives, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, March 26). California Governor Gray Davis, already facing a $30 billion deficit, was forced to spend an additional $100,000 a week beginning last month when he ordered 50 National Guardsmen to Los Angeles International Airport to reinforce security there after federal officials elevated the national threat level (see GSN, March 18). “Things had to be done for safety,” said Bill Fujioka, Los Angeles’ chief administrative officer. “But we don’t have too many options left,” he added. State governments wary to skimp on homeland security funding are facing cutbacks in other departments. “These responsibilities are unprecedented, and it’s an extra cost burden when none of us can absorb it,” said Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. “If you put extra personnel on bridges, you’re taking money from public schools or telling scholarship students they can’t go to college or taking medicine from elderly people. We’re beyond the point of inconveniencing people. We’re close to hurting them,” he added (Russakoff/Sanchez, Washington Post, April 1). In a $75 billion supplemental defense budget request made last week, the Bush administration has requested an additional $4 billion for homeland security. The proposal includes $1.1 billion for federal border and transportation security, $2 billion for the Office of Domestic Preparedness, $1.5 billion in grants for state and local equipment, training, and exercises, $450 million in grants to states to enhance critical infrastructure security, and $50 million for protection of major metropolitan areas. A Democratic congressional effort to add $6.4 billion for homeland security to the supplemental budget bill was rejected today in the House Appropriations Committee (David Ruppe, Global Security Newswire, April 1). However much is finally appropriated, determining how to allocate it to different states remains contentious, the Post reported. New York Governor George Pataki and New York Senators Hilary Clinton (D) and Charles Schumer (D) have said they want a distribution system that takes into account the relative threat to each state. “Any other formula defies logic and makes a mockery of the country’s counterterrorism efforts,” New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday. After the Sept. 11 attacks, Congress used the USA Patriot Act to put a formula in place to distribute homeland security funding. Some small states say they need help because their standing security forces are relatively small and border states are appealing for assistance from Washington. The protection of U.S. borders is a federal responsibility, according to the Post (Russakoff/Sanchez, Washington Post).
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