GOP Lawmaker Raps Homeland Security Budget

[Syrinx]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An influential Republican lawmaker rapped the
Homeland Security Department on Thursday for what he called ``material
weaknesses'' in the sprawling agency's financial structure.

``To be blunt, it is unacceptable that the department has not gotten
its financial house in order,'' said Rep. Harold Rogers, chairman of
the House Appropriations subcommittee on Homeland Security.

Rogers, R-Ky., acknowledged the growing pains that the 2-year old
department faced in pulling together 22 agencies when it was created
after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. But he said DHS has not made
progress in key areas, highlighting a hiring freeze caused by funding
shortfalls at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau, and a
failure to better merge information technology systems.

``These are important efforts that cannot be ignored,'' Rogers told
Homeland Security Deputy Secretary James Loy, who was presenting the
department's 2006 budget request at a subcommittee hearing.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Homeland-Securiuty-Budget.html