Even for the Bush gang, this one’s dumber than usual.
D.C. officials said yesterday that the Bush administration is refusing to reimburse the District for most of the costs associated with next week’s inauguration, breaking with precedent and forcing the city to divert $11.9 million from homeland security projects.
Federal officials have told the District that it should cover the expenses by using some of the $240 million in federal homeland security grants it has received in the past three years — money awarded to the city because it is among the places at highest risk of a terrorist attack.
But that grant money is earmarked for other security needs, Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) said in a Dec. 27 letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Joshua B. Bolten and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.
Bush, who used to lament “unfunded mandates,” wants DC to spend over $17 million in security costs for his inauguration. The city, which hardly has $17 million to spare, planned to spend that money on increasing hospital capacity, equipping firefighters with protective gear, and building transit system command centers in the coming year. Too bad, says Bush, spend it on my festivities instead.
Other presidents have used federal funds to reimburse DC for inauguration security costs. Maybe Bush is a touch bitter about getting less than 10% support from DC residents on Election Day? Would this be happening in a “red” state?
It’s bad enough that Bush believes taxpayers in the nation’s capital deserve to be the only Americans in the country without congressional representation, but this is truly ridiculous. Oddly enough, even a House Republican agrees.
A spokesman for Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, which oversees the District, agreed with the mayor’s stance. He called the Bush administration’s position “simply not acceptable.”
“It’s an unfunded mandate of the most odious kind. How can the District be asked to take funds from important homeland security projects to pay for this instead?” said Davis spokesman David Marin.
Bush will have no choice but to back down from this nonsense. Would the White House really allow DC to scrimp on security at the president’s inaugural during a time of war?