WASHINGTON, May 17 (UPI) -- The DHS has not yet submitted a strategic plan to Congress on how it intends to improve border security.
This delay has prompted appropriators in the U.S. House of Representatives to cut funding in the Department of Homeland Security's fiscal 2007 budget, CongressDaily reported Tuesday.
Although President George W. Bush called on Congress Monday night to provide necessary funding for border security, lawmakers say the administration has not said how the money will be spent or how results will be measured.
"For years we have thrown huge sums of money at border security but the problem has gotten progressively worse," House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky., said in a statement Monday. "What we need is a sound, comprehensive strategy that allows us to measure progress. Without a strategic border security plan we are simply planning to fail."
Rogers demanded during a hearing last month that the department submit a plan for its massive, multi-billion-dollar Secure Border Initiative, which is intended to crack down on illegal immigration and criminal activity at the borders and inside the country.
"We will have our strategy document outlining the objectives back to the subcommittee by the end of April," SBI program manager Greg Giddens assured Rogers at the time. But the subcommittee confirmed Monday that the strategic plan has not yet been submitted. The department did not reply to written questions for comment Monday.
