OMB chief questioned on homeland funding, TSA staffing

House Appropriations Committee ranking member David Obey, D-Wis., used a subcommittee hearing Wednesday to grill Office of Management and Budget Director Mitch Daniels over the lack of homeland security funding hours before hostilities began.

"There is widespread concern in the country that we're not doing enough on the homeland security front, and frankly, I think you've been one of the obstacles to getting that done," Obey said in a Transportation-Treasury Appropriations Subcommittee hearing regarding Daniel's testimony on OMB's proposed fiscal 2004 budget.

Obey suggested to Daniels that in the event of war, the administration should see to it that an additional $10 billion is provided for the homeland security budget, and that all tax cuts that have yet to go into effect be frozen until the cost of the war is better understood.

"I don't think we ought to be cutting taxes in the dark," he said. "The most responsible thing we can do is to put those on hold."

Obey further criticized Daniels and President Bush for rejecting spending plans in the past that would have provided more funding to domestic security, such as Bush's refusal to accept a portion of the fiscal 2002 supplemental spending bill.

Daniels responded that the administration's objections to such spending bills were focused on the weight of the overall package, not the specific issue of homeland security.

"It's certainly a misunderstanding, if not a misrepresentation, to say a disagreement over the hundreds of billions we want to spend is a disagreement over each and every individual item," Daniels said.

Daniels pointed out that domestic homeland security spending is rising at the fastest percentage rate of any major category in Bush's proposed budget, and added that "there is no more effective way to protect Americans-than to root out terror and stop it before it can reach our shores."

Daniels received heat from the other side of the aisle from Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Ky. Rogers expressed disappointment in the inability of the Transportation Security Administration to reduce its staffing from 64,000 to the 45,000 mandated in the fiscal 2003 omnibus bill.