by Jena McNeill at heritage.org
In Washington, money talks and political paybacks are the order of the day. And if Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-CT) recent maneuver is any indication, then his choice to slash aviation security funding in favor of fire grant dollars to union buddies speaks volumes about the homeland security priorities of liberals in Congress. In a recent Washington Examiner article, it was revealed that Sen. Dodd, along with other colleagues in the Senate, diverted critical funds that were supposed to be used to detect explosives at airports to pet fire grant projects for his union buddies who helped get him elected.
It is high time Congress gets serious about where it uses its security monies. Pushing more and more dollars into all sorts of homeland security grants that don’t translate into real security progress is a waste of taxpayer dollars. Dave Muhlhausen, Senior Policy Analyst at the Heritage Foundation, has done a detailed study looking at whether or not DHS fire grants reduce fire casualties. While firefighters are integral part of communities, his research indicates that these grant dollars actually have very little impact on their intended goal of reducing fire deaths and provide very little in terms of improving fire service in communities–making these grants $5.7 billion better spent elsewhere. Read more…
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