http://online.wsj.com/article/AP39bf2c6db8ce46bf9283ca040fbe91b4.html
* APRIL 25, 2011, 4:41 P.M. ET Northern states to get Homeland Security grants HELENA, Mont. - Law enforcement agencies in northern border states for now will still be able to receive border protection grants after Congress nixed an attempt to limit the money to the Southwest. But it may be a temporary reprieve, with the Department of Homeland Security's 2012 budget request also seeking to restrict the Operation Stonegarden grant money to Southwestern border states. Both the 2011 and 2012 budget requests by the department earmarked $50 million for Operation Stonegarden, which local law enforcement agencies in border states use to pay for overtime and equipment meant to help the federal government secure U.S. borders. But unlike past years, Homeland Security specified in its requests the grant money was to be spent only "to address the nation's Southwest border security issues." That limitation was met with dismay from northern lawmakers from Maine to Montana who argued against cutting support to protect the 5,525-mile U.S.-Canada border. Last year, border states in the Southwest received $47.6 million in Operation Stonegarden grants, compared with $11.1 million for northern border states. The restriction was removed in the budget bill passed by Congress earlier this month, the agency said Friday and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee confirmed on Monday. "Northern border states are eligible for Operation Stonegarden grants in (Fiscal Year) 2011," DHS spokesman Chris Ortman said. It wasn't immediately clear who pulled the restriction from the 2011 budget bill, said Senate committee spokeswoman Leslie Phillips. It's also not clear whether northern border states will be eligible for the grants beyond this year. Homeland Security's budget request for next year includes the same proposed restriction, and congressional budget negotiations for that year have not yet begun. Restricting the funding would leave one of the world's longest land borders open to drugs, weapons and human trafficking, Reps. Bill Owens, D-N.Y., and Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., said in a statement. "That simple fact makes limiting federal resources to the Southwest border region short-sighted at best and downright negligent at worst," Rehberg said. Valley County Sheriff Glen Meier in northeastern Montana said the grant money is vital to assist federal border agents keep the porous northern border more secure. Valley County received $215,000 in 2009 and $190,000 last year, using that money to pay for overtime, fuel, surveillance equipment, an all-terrain vehicle and a four-wheel-drive sport-utility vehicle. "If we caught somebody who was going to do another 9/11, the money spent on Stonegarden would be pretty minor," Meier said. "I hope if they drop Stonegarden, something serious doesn't happen that we wish didn't happen." Meier acknowledged the border protection money has become essential to paying his deputies overtime and predicted he would lose personnel if the funding were lost. "It's the only way they can make a living anymore with (the price of) things so high," he said. "We depend very much on Stonegarden to make a living and support families." But other counties are finding it hard to spend all the money they receive through the program. Blaine County Sheriff Glenn Huestis said he hasn't yet spent half the $215,000 his department received from the program in 2009, and he still has the entire $190,000 the department received in 2010. He said that along with overtime, he will only purchase equipment he can justify, since somebody's tax dollars are paying for it. "I could have an ATV sent here that I would use maybe once a year. Why spend it on that when I could use a camera and surveillance equipment multiple times a year?" Huestis asked [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, discuss-os...@yahoogroups.com. -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor biso...@intellnet.org http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: osint-subscr...@yahoogroups.com Unsubscribe: osint-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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