House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) today announced House Republicans will offer a measure on the House floor that would ensure scarce intelligence funds are used to fund programs that protect the American people instead of funding wasteful congressional pork-barrel projects.UPDATE: Americans for Prosperity weighed in here...
The GOP measure would take funding away from an illegitimate earmark tucked into an important intelligence bill to benefit senior Democratic Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), and use the money to restore funding for human intelligence programs that protect the American people against attacks from terrorists. Democrats cut funding for such valuable intelligence programs against the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.
The Murtha earmark has drawn a torrent of criticism from House Republicans not only because it is a wasteful use of taxpayer dollars, but also because it was tucked into the intelligence bill in apparent violation of House rules meant to keep pork-barrel projects from passing Congress without appropriate scrutiny and debate.
The Murtha earmark would authorize tens of millions of federal dollars to be spent on the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), a government agency based in Murtha's district that the House Government Reform Committee has deemed "an expensive and duplicative use of scarce federal drug enforcement resources," according to an article in the May 8 edition of The Hill.
The GOP measure will request an audit of the NDIC and shift $23 million away from NDIC into human intelligence programs. The measure would leave $16 million in the NDIC account to cover the estimated termination costs of the facility.
Against the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, Congressional Democrats cut funding for human intelligence programs as well as other initiatives related to America's efforts to counter radical jihadists. The Republican measure today would take money away from Rep. Murtha's illegitimate earmark and use the money to restore some of the intelligence funds slashed in the original bill.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
House Republicans Target Rep. Murtha's Earmark
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