House panel to give Homeland Security chief limited authority to shift funds

The House Appropriations Committee plans to mark up legislation Thursday that would give the head of the proposed Homeland Security Department limited ability to transfer funds among programs within the agency.

The bipartisan proposal would allow limited transfers of funds, but require approval by the Appropriations committees. The administration, in its proposal to create the new department, had sought the power to move up to 5 percent of appropriations without congressional approval. But appropriators balked at that suggestion, saying it would violate the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches of government.

The legislation that comes out of the House Appropriations Committee will eventually be merged with other pieces of the homeland security authorization package moving through the House.

The Senate Appropriations Committee is not likely to follow suit by moving its own transfer language, but instead allow Senate Governmental Affairs Chairman Lieberman to deal with it in a bill his panel is crafting.

In a letter last week to Lieberman, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., and ranking member Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, blasted the administration's plan for giving too much discretion to the executive branch.