Misplaced priorities put pork before public safety [View All]

[jbfam4]

http://www.suntimes.com/output/commentary/cst-edt-edits03.html

Misplaced priorities put pork before public safety

December 3, 2004

The other day we observed that bad things happen when lawmakers aren't paying attention. But the latest revelation about the pork-packed $388 billion Omnibus Appropriations Act -- passed with few, if any, legislators reading the entire bill -- is jaw-dropping in what it says about congressional irresponsibility and cynicism. The bill cut funding for a program to prosecute gun crimes, a project backed by John Ashcroft and even the National Rifle Association.

At issue was $45 million sought by the Bush administration under Project Safe Neighborhoods to fund grants to attack gun trafficking and firearm-related crimes. No thanks, Congress said. Also wiped from the bill, reports the New York Times, was $106 million to track and intercept illegal gun purchases by youths.

Adding insult to injury, John Scofield, a spokesman for the House Appropriations Committee, told the Times: "It's a matter of priorities and there are going to be things you can fund and things you can't."