Tuesday, February 8, 2005

The Budget Well, I spent some time looking over President Bush's budget request, and my head hurts. The government spends so much money that it takes thousands of pages just to lay out the main categories of spending. And, of course, this will all change once Congress gets its hands on it and adds all the pork. The short story: Bush ignored my suggestion to reduce the deficit by eliminating the drug war budget. The Good News: Most of the "Byrne Grant" fund that supports some of the worst of the drug task forces around the country has been cut in the President's budget (see Scott at Grits for Breakfast who has been following this very closely. There will be efforts to reinstate this budget. Bad News: The vast majority of drug war functions will continue with no reduction, or even slight increases in the President's budget, despite meeting the criteria of ineffective programs. DEA - Increase of 4% in their budget, including some adjustments: DEA's plan for rightsizing its overseas presence, including additional resources to address the threat of Afghan heroin and to operate effectively in Central Asia and the Middle East; vital resources to enhance intelligence capabilities to more fully exploit DEA's ability to gather, analyze, and share intelligence information; and investigations of drug trafficking and money laundering PTOs. Yeah, send the DEA to Afghanistan. That'll work. Some offset will be provided by reductions in some areas: elimination of vehicle support for the State and Local Task Forces; transfer of the Marijuana Eradication program to the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) to be managed as a grant program [at a cost of $19 million]; elimination of the DEA's Demand Reduction Program; reduction of the Mobile Enforcement Teams by approximately 50 percent; reduction to non-operational administrative training resources; and savings associated with implementing Etravel. Of course, that's only one part of the drug war in the budget. In fact, the entire budget is riddled with drug war costs. Things like the Southwest Border Prosecutor Initiative (increased), Andean counterdrug initiative (increased), Drug Testing Initiative (increased), Drug-free communities program (increased), High intensity drug trafficking areas (transferred, with budget, to Justice), International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement (increased), National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign (increased). Total Federal Drug Budget: Increase of $268 million. Yeah, that's the way to show those costly, ineffective, federal programs who is boss! 11:08:15 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Drugs and Faith: Be prepared for more zany antics from Mark From the Journal Gazette (Indiana): SOUDER REJOINS EDUCATION PANEL Lawmaker Cites Drugs, Evolution As Key Issues WASHINGTON - Rep.  Mark Souder, R-3rd, will join the House Education Committee for the next two years, temporarily giving up a seat on the committee that oversees national parks. Souder, who was a member of the Education Committee for his first six years in office, said he is keen to participate in discussions about the teaching of evolution vs.  creationism; the rewrite of a bill that includes a provision he wrote to restrict student loans to people with drug convictions; and legislation that includes provisions that allow federal grants to faith-based organizations. Souder will keep a seat on the Government Reform Committee, where he chairs a subcommittee that oversees the nation's anti-drug programs.  He will also remain on the Homeland Security Committee, a panel created after the Sept.  11, 2001, terror attacks. This means that Souder will be positioned to block true reform to the HEA Drug Provision, while pushing for increases in the Drug War elsewhere. 9:38:35 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []