Sen. Harry Reid and other Democrats are criticizing the Bush administration for cutting funds for the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) program. The JAG program funds the multi-jurisdictional drug task forces that have run amok across the country, most infamously in Texas (Tulia, Hearne)and have contributed mightily to filling our prisons with low-level drug offenders.
Why must they play the same tired "tough on drugs" game as always? Why do they think they must cave in to anyone wearing a blue uniform and a badge? Why not be "smart on drug policy," "smart on crime," "smart on terror," instead of trying to out-tough the Republicans? Instead, Reid and the others follow the lead of budgetarily self-interested police, scream "methamphetamine," and hope they can ram this crap through.
There is plenty to criticize in the Bush budget cuts; going after the administration for cutting a failed (ask OMB)program that is part of a failed policy (drug war) with huge negative consequences for all of us is just stupid.
Below is Senator Reid's statement from Friday, followed by excerpts from a column by Deborah Saunders.
Reid's statement:
Senate Leader Reid Criticizes Bush Proposed Police Cuts
Posted: February 10th, 2006 12:54 PM EDT
US Fed News
The office of Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., issued the following press release:
Excerpt:
The President has proposed a total of $1.2 billion in cuts to state and local law enforcement programs, including programs specifically designed to assist rural communities. Once again, President Bush's budget will inhibit the ability of first responders to prepare for new threats and law enforcement to combat the growing methamphetamine problem.
******************************************************
Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program : The President's budget proposes eliminating this important program, which made $388 million in grants last year to assist state and local governments to improve the functioning of the criminal justice system - with an emphasis on violent crime and serious offenders.
Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) : The President's budget proposes deep cuts to this important program, which last year was authorized to make $371 million in expenditures to assist State and local law enforcement agencies by providing grants, training, and technical assistance. In particular, the COPS Program has helped cities and counties procure equipment and technology, advance community policing, and combat methamphetamine use and distribution. The $40 million the President has proposed for the Methamphetamine Clean Up program is an improvement over last year's $20 million request, but well short of the authorized level of $52 million.
Juvenile Justice Programs: The President's budget proposes deep cuts in juvenile justice programs, including elimination of the Juvenile Accountability Block Grants, which support state and local efforts to prevent juvenile delinquency and crime. The Bush budget also reduces funding for rural domestic violence and child abuse enforcement grants.
Excerpts from the Deborah Saunders column
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/02/12/EDGC6H618S1.DTLYOUR TAX DOLLARS ON DRUGS
IF YOU want to understand how difficult it is to cut the federal
deficit -- it will surpass $400 billion in the 2007 budget -- take a
look at the Byrne grants. Named after New York City police officer
Edward Byrne, who was killed by drug dealers, the grants have
provided about $500 million annually to local law-enforcement efforts
since the program was signed into law by the first President Bush.
Critics on the left and the right consider the program to be
ill-conceived and ineffective, and they've urged Washington to
eliminate the grants. But Congress keeps pouring millions into the program.
<snip>
Mulhausen is not alone. The White House Office of Management and
Budget studied the Byrne grants and gave the program a 13 percent
rating for results and accountability. That's an F-.
<snip>
Alex Conant of the OMB explained that "Federal law-enforcement funds
need to be spent where they are most effective and Byrne grants have
failed to demonstrate significant effectiveness."
<snip>
That's the problem. Columnists and fiscal watchdogs all agree that
federal spending is out of control. Democrats are having a grand time
slamming Bush for his big spending, but as soon as Bush tries to cut
an actual program, it becomes a vital endeavor, the loss of which
will be harmful to hardworking taxpayers.
Pork-happy lawmakers rush to defend the program. Sens. Tom Harkin,
D-Iowa, Mark Dayton, D-Minn., Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., all have boasted
that they want to keep bankrolling Byrne grants. If you come from
farm country, you talk like Leahy -- and hail the grants as important
for "a rural state." Or you say that the funding is essential to
fight methamphetamine abuse -- as Harkin and Dayton argued -- even
though local officials are charged with enforcing those laws.
You would never guess that Byrne grants also funded bad law
enforcement -- most notably the Tulia scandal, which began when Bush
was the governor of Texas. A white investigator of a Byrne-funded
task force testified against dozens of black residents in Tulia,
Texas, for dealing cocaine -- they were convicted, even though no
drugs were presented as evidence at trial. Later, Gov. Rick Perry
pardoned most of the Tulia convicts and one-time defendants reached a
$5 million settlement with local officials.
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