Hearing of the Commerce, Justice and Science Subcommittee of House Appropriations Committee - Department of Justice FY 2013 Budget Request

Statement

Thank you, Chairman Wolf for yielding. And Attorney General Holder, thank you for appearing before the subcommittee today.

As you are no doubt aware, this Committee has been front and center in attempting to address the very real security threat posed by out-of-control Washington spending and trillion dollar deficits. Last year, we worked to restore transparency, austerity and tough oversight to the Appropriations process -- and we succeeded in reducing discretionary spending by some $95 billion compared to FY10. That hasn't happened since World War II.

As I have mentioned to Secretaries Napolitano and Panetta, where our federal law enforcement, intelligence officers and military men and women are concerned, you must be best at prioritizing the mission and making scarce dollars count.

The FY13 request for the Department of Justice is essentially level with FY12, with federal law enforcement accounts more or less frozen. Understanding the difficult budgetary constraints under which DOJ is operating - particularly the rapidly escalating costs within our federal prison system - I look forward to hearing from you about the impacts of this flat funding level to the operational capabilities of our law enforcement officials on the front lines.

In addition, I am concerned by a number of budgeting gimmicks which undermine the integrity of this request. For example, the Bureau of Prisons budget is relying on the enactment of authorizing legislation outside the jurisdiction of the Appropriations Committee to achieve $41 million in savings. This same request was not included in the FY12 bill.

You have also continued to rely on rescissions to finance your discretionary budget, including some $280 million from core law enforcement accounts. With a drug war raging along our borders, the abuse of prescription medications wreaking havoc in communities large and small, and terrorists abroad and extremists in our backyard threatening our way of life, I question the wisdom in employing budget gimmicks with the funding that supports our US Marshals, and FBI, DEA and ATF agents putting themselves in harm's way on a daily basis.

Attorney General Holder, I look forward to your testimony. Thank you

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