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Proposed Justice Department Budget: All Terror , All the Time

By Jeralyn, Section Other Politics
Posted on Mon Feb 07, 2005 at 03:58:19 PM EST
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Here are the numbers from Bush's proposed Justice Department Budget:

Spending: $20.3 billion.
Percentage change from 2005: 1 percent.
Mandatory Outlays: $2.2 billion
Total Spending: $22.5 billion

Some Highlights:

  • The FBI budget would increase by 11 percent, to $5.7 billion, including an increase of $294 million for counterterrorism and counterintelligence activities and $117 million for the intelligence program. Much of the proposed spending increase reflects the agency's top two priorities of combatting terrorism and foreign espionage.

  • The Drug Enforcement Administration would see a 4 percent increase, to $1.7 billion, with a focus on disrupting three dozen major drug organizations.
  • The Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS program, which provides grants for state and local agencies to hire police officers, would be cut from $499 million to $22 million.
  • The State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, $297 million last year, would be eliminated.

So the FBI gets $400 million more for counterterrorism and intelligence, even though last year it blew $170 million on a computer system that doesn't work and has to be scrapped. The citizen on the street and communities in need of more police officers get close to zilch.

Maybe Bush thinks if we reduce treatment options and enact more mandatory minimums, so many people will be in jail we won't need more police.

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    Proposed Justice Department Budget: All Terror , All the Time | 10 comments (10 topical)
    Re: Proposed Justice Department Budget: All Terror (none / 0) (#1)
    by soccerdad on Mon Feb 07, 2005 at 05:08:59 PM EST
    Hey, it costs a lot of money to scare the population and keep it in check at the same time.

    Re: Proposed Justice Department Budget: All Terror (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Feb 07, 2005 at 05:57:42 PM EST
    Oh who really needs national defense these days? Let's just follow the cheese-eating surrender monkeys' lead and run the white flag up. So what if Islamofascists are still trying to kill Americans. We deserve it anyway!! We can just take our chances an rely on the good graces and mercy of the mullahs and terrorists. And the Dems wonder why they can't be trusted with national defense.

    Re: Proposed Justice Department Budget: All Terror (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Feb 07, 2005 at 06:00:22 PM EST
    TL, I'll join you in mourning the reduction of the COPS program, but perhaps we can also agree that cuts to the Byrne grant program -- which finances hundreds of Tulia-style drug task forces all over the country -- would be a worthy candidate for belt tightening? That's the $600 million program cut down to $60 you mentioned the other day. It's not just a Texas problem. All over the country task forces are filling up prisons with low-level offenders and generating a disproportionate share of the drug war's worst corruption scandals. Look what's going on with New Hampshire's task force right now, or in California where their finances are a wreck. They're in trouble, it seems, everywhere they operate. You've had some trouble with GRAMNET in Colorado, too, if I remember. There's a ton of other examples on the blawg. Anyway, maybe we can give Bush some love on just that one cut, whaddya think?

    Re: Proposed Justice Department Budget: All Terror (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Feb 07, 2005 at 06:39:28 PM EST
    I do see that since the election, we have not seen or heard an Orange alert! Was it just a ploy to scare people to re-elect the moron! Well it worked. He had his coronation. King stupid george is back, with the same bad advice that he had before. The same corporation people who were controlling him before have taken more control than ever before. The sad part is that he is so dumb he does not even notice. He act like he knows what he is talking about, but when you listen to him, that is quickly reputes. He never goes in front of people that would disagree with him without a listening device like the debates. Lets hope that this country wake up. That those Republicans elected man will be afraid enough about there re-election and will not go along with this king george’s madness.

    Re: Proposed Justice Department Budget: All Terror (none / 0) (#5)
    by Joe Bob on Mon Feb 07, 2005 at 07:27:31 PM EST
    Granted I don't live in Manhattan, but I fear plain old street crime a lot more than I do international terrorists. Not to give counterterrorism short shrift, but for the vast majority of people in this country a rational assessment of risk tells you that you have more to fear from our own domestic criminals. That's why cuts in things like community policing really anger me. That said, I also agree with Scott. If law enforcement resources weren't wasted on things like fielding militarized police units to catch street-level drug dealers then maybe they could focus on efforts that would actually improve our personal security. As an aside, at my most cynical I can't help but wonder if cuts in programs like COPS are just political payback. After all, where do you need the most policing: large cities. Where are the Democratic strongholds: large cities. Even in the red states you see little islands of blue in places like Austin, Raleigh-Durham, Cleveland and Miami. What a perfect way to stick it to those urban conclaves of latte-sipping liberals wherever they may be.

    Re: Proposed Justice Department Budget: All Terror (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Feb 07, 2005 at 10:27:03 PM EST
    Let's just follow the cheese-eating surrender monkeys' lead and run the white flag up. So what if Islamofascists are still trying to kill Americans. The idiot son of George Bush and his mis-administration have been very effective...except for the parts where the ports and borders are wide open, we left Afghanistan undone, and the entire Iraq war has been fought with too few troops and under supplied. Don't forget the nukes in Korea. If you can ignore the bad economy, poor job growth, a budget only a fool would be proud of, fascism parading as jesus bleeding on a flag, and your children getting dumber, things are just fine.

    Re: Proposed Justice Department Budget: All Terror (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Feb 08, 2005 at 08:25:07 AM EST
    Hey, considering what low level drug enforcement cops have been mostly doing, maybe getting rid of the COPS grant is tough love to Dems that we all can love. Then the cops can be repurposed to fight terror and violent crime as promised and orignially intended. And I'm not minding seeing the drug education programs in schools get cut, since this was just for odious, ineffective propaganda and loyalty plegdes and the "magic bullet" of random student drug testing (where the feds were going to throw money at that, per the 2004 SoTU address).

    Re: Proposed Justice Department Budget: All Terror (none / 0) (#8)
    by Jlvngstn on Tue Feb 08, 2005 at 08:51:34 AM EST
    I am not a fan of conspiracies, but ya gotta admit that no increases in the security alert since the elections where we had nearly a dozen is a bit fishy...............

    Re: Proposed Justice Department Budget: All Terror (none / 0) (#9)
    by kdog on Tue Feb 08, 2005 at 11:54:46 AM EST
    Very fishy indeed J. I'm glad law enforcement is getting cut. When I go to Manhattan, all I see are cops on nearly every corner standing around doing nothing, except for harassing the occasional homeless person or pot smoker. Get a real job!

    Re: Proposed Justice Department Budget: All Terror (none / 0) (#10)
    by pigwiggle on Wed Feb 09, 2005 at 08:43:11 AM EST
    Yesterday I was listening to the speeches on the floor and it struck me that this is a very tricky problem for the Democrats. They can’t favor deficits or tax increases, too unpopular, and they can’t argue for decreases or only modest increases in security spending, very unpopular. Many Democratic planks are social spending for which there appears to be little or no money. Their only option seems to be to continue talking about ‘tax cuts for the rich’ and to highlight money going to Iraq and Afghanistan. Although I think the second isn’t going to have much impact, at least not in the short term.

    Proposed Justice Department Budget: All Terror , All the Time | 10 comments (10 topical)