(Washington, D.C.) - Citizens Against Government Waste today released its preliminary analysis of the House version of the fiscal 2010 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Appropriations Act.  There are 151 projects worth $109.7 million, which is a 48 percent increase in the amount of projects in the House bill in fiscal year 2009, and an 8.7 percent decrease in cost.  House DHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman David Price (D-N.C.) requested five projects totaling $10,665,000, while House DHS Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Harold Rogers (R-Ky.) requested four projects worth $14,000,000.  Their combined total of $24,665,000 is equal to 22.5 percent of the $109.7 million in pork in the bill.

The following are some outrageous examples of pork that members of the House added to the Homeland Security bill:

• $42,435,000 for 76 projects for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) State and Local Programs by 77 members, spread among 30 states.
• $24,636,064 for 58 projects for FEMA Predisaster Mitigation by 61 members, spread among 25 states.
• $15,600,000 for eight projects for National Protection and Programs Directorate Infrastructure Protection and Information Security by 10 members in seven states.
• $10,000,000 by House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Harold Rogers (R-Ky.) for the National Institute for Hometown Security (NIHS).  According to the Institute’s website, “NIHS is a private, non-profit 501(c)3 corporation.  NIHS was organized in 2004 through the leadership of Kentucky Fifth District Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers.  Congressman Rogers suggested organizing the higher education institutions of Kentucky to more effectively compete for research funds and projects aimed at improving homeland security.  The Kentucky Homeland Security University Consortium resulted from his efforts.  NIHS is the administrative manager for the Consortium.”  In other words, Americans are paying $10 million so these institutions can be more effective at getting more of the taxpayers’ money.
• $6,000,000 for two projects by House DHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman David Price (D-N.C.) funding research at the Institute for Defense and Business and the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina.

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in government.