Senators grill Ridge about Homeland Security budget

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge was back on Capitol Hill on Wednesday defending his department's expenditures or, in some cases, lack of expenditures.

Testifying before the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, Ridge faced a full array of questions about specific programs. In his testimony, Ridge called for national standards for security strategies and equipment. He urged that states and localities develop plans that will make it clearer to the federal government how funds it provides will be spent.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., also called for national standards for science and technology, especially for the equipment for "first responders" to emergencies because right now "every company with a gadget, gizmo, google or goggle" is trying to sell it to the government.

Subcommittee Chairman Thad Cochran, R-Miss., probed whether the Bush administration had spent the millions of dollars Congress provided for Operation Liberty Shield, a short-term effort to guard against retaliation within the United States to the war in Iraq. Ridge said it is too soon to know if any money is left from the one-month initiative.

Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., expressed concern about a Homeland Security Department proposal this month to further expand the exemption from the Freedom of Information Act for companies that give the government information about critical infrastructure vulnerabilities.

Byrd indicated that the proposal would exempt information provided to any department, not just Homeland Security. He opposed the original exemption in the law that created the new department and said a broader exemption would be an incentive for corporations, lobbyists and contractors to label everything provided to the government as critical infrastructure.

Byrd said his fear is that under the exemption, the private sector would be shielded from legal liability and that the administration could operate without public scrutiny. "Where does it end?" he said, adding that the law could even shield lobbying interactions with Homeland Security officials, which could lead to the kind of "no bid" contracts for government work that he said are occurring in the Iraqi reconstruction.

Ridge insisted that the provision would not release any companies from their requirements under other laws and that it simply seeks to encourage information sharing by the private sector, which owns most critical infrastructure.

Byrd also criticized the administration for repeatedly opposing efforts to boost financial resources for security. "Not only has President Bush failed to lead the nation in addressing these vulnerabilities," Byrd said, "he has, in fact, actively opposed efforts to provide the resources necessary to address these significant weaknesses. I find this behavior more than puzzling."

In urging more spending for homeland security, Byrd told Ridge, "I would not want to be in your shoes if some catastrophe happens next week at a port or chemical plant."

Byrd also took a jab at Bush's remarks that the nation has a budget deficit because it has been through a war, noting that the president's fiscal 2004 budget request, which predicted deficits, did not include any money for the war or reconstruction in Iraq.