Kentucky is to be the recipient of $11.9 million federal dollars in pork. A Kentucky news station reported that the money was “to increase preparedness and response measures across the state,” however such federal grants are actually undermining state homeland security preparedness measures.
According to a Heritage WebMemo by Homeland Security Policy Analyst Jena McNeill, since 9/11 the federal government has allocated $23 billion in homeland security grants. This money has essentially become another entitlement. States are cutting their own spending on homeland security, especially in these harder economic times, and allowing federal grant money to supplant state funding. Further, federal homeland security spending has consistently been increasing, while state spending has not. States are coming to have no accountability in homeland security preparedness and spending.
Federal homeland security grants should instead be used to help close gaps in capabilities in areas that present a need based on risk assessments. It should also be made that states be required to match federal funds. These measures would help Congress to put an end to these homeland security entitlements.
Our politicians, Democrat and Republicans’ alike, now have us over $56 trillion, 501 billion, 222 million dollars in debt and it will require our children and grandchildren to fund their promises for years to come. How much is it going to cost us to continue spending tax dollars on their votes to "bring home the bacon?"