With the exception of Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., Americans have never used the word "homeland" to describe their country. But Americans will now have a Department of Homeland Security, thanks to Senate Democrats who chose to vote for legislation they knew was packed with pork barrel spending, corporate welfare and special interest favors.

The legislation creates the third-largest Cabinet agency, which will in the words of Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., become a "bureaucratic behemoth" destined to cost taxpayers a fortune while very possibly making it harder for federal authorities to fight genuine terror threats.

With its liability exemptions for corporations, its favors for the pharmaceutical industry, and its diversion of federal funds to prop up Texas A&M University in the home state of President Bush and Republican Sen. Phil Gramm, a key player in shaping the legislation, the legislation is entirely indefensible.

What made the bill truly disgusting, however, was a section that relaxed a ban on the awarding of homeland security contracts to corporations that seek to avoid paying U.S. taxes by setting up off-shore tax havens. That ban was crafted by the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn.

The overwhelming majority of Democratic senators voted for an amendment to the legislation that would have stripped the legislation of the worst sections of the bill. But they lost narrowly, and then the vast majority of Senate Democrats - including Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis. - allowed their opposition to collapse. They voted with the Bush administration and Senate Republicans to approve establishment of the department.

Voting "no" were the eight Democrats - including Wisconsin's Russ Feingold - and one independent, James Jeffords. Theirs were the only honorable votes on this issue.

Copyright 2002 The Capital Times

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