Senate May Reconsider Mass Transport Security Cuts

The Republican-controlled US Senate is having second thoughts about cuts made to mass transit security. Nothing like a little bombing on the London Underground and buses to point out the obvious need for more, not less, spending here. But Heimatschutzminister (to give the Secretary of Homeland Security his proper title) Michael Chertoff demonstrated an unwillingness to tell the truth when he said, "I think our transit systems are safe. I wouldn't make a policy decision driven by a single event." Wiser heads would.

The facts are distressing. The Feds have spent $9 per airline passenger in the four years since the Al Qaeda murders in New York and Virginia to improve security. Mass transit passengers have received $0.01 each. One gets that for which one pays. The only reason a major American city has been spared London’s pain is the absence of Al Qaeda operatives in the US – for now.

And so last month, the Senate Appropriations Committee decided to cut $50 million from the $150 million in mass transit security spending for 2005. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is fighting to reverse that and increase spending to $200 million. And the GOP authors of the bill have made it clear that they are open to changes. Yet, even an increase to $1 billion would have little effect in the near term.

Congress has approved something on the order of $8.6 billion in homeland security grants. William Millar, president of the American Public Transportation Association, has testified before Congress that, nationally, transit agencies have spotted more than $6 billion in transit security needs. Everything should be groovy. But half of the grants have not been spent.

The situation is clear. Chaos in America’s national defense was understandable in autumn 2001. Summer 2005, it is unforgivable, even treasonous. Yet, there is Senate dithering, the Department of Homeland Security (or Heimatschutzministerium) is headed by a Pollyanna, and whoever holds the purse strings for protecting average Americans can’t be bothered to get out the check book. No wonder the Army and Marines are having trouble meeting their recruiting targets while Al Qaeda seems to have no such difficulty.


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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