BOSTON – Sen. John Kerry today said that the Homeland Security spending bill passed by the Senate last night includes an amendment that he offered that would require the Government Accountability Office to investigate how risk assessments were made for Boston and other cities that determined the level of counter-terrorism funding they received this year.  Senator Kennedy co-sponsored Kerry’s amendment.
 

Kerry also announced that the Senate unanimously passed his amendment to repeal the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) exemption from federal contracting laws.  TSA has a record of mismanaging contracts and wasting taxpayer money and will now have to abide by the same basic contracting rules that every other federal agency follows, including the Department of Defense. 


“I am disappointed that the Department of Homeland Security cut counter-terrorism funding for Boston,” Kerry said. “I’m not convinced that it is following its own policy of awarding funding based on the risk of a terrorist attack.  We need to make sure that we’re following the 9/11 Commissions advice to spend according to risk.  I look forward to reviewing the GAO’s report and working with my colleagues to improve security in Boston.”

 
Kerry, who’s Chairman of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, said his amendment will also make it easier for small businesses in Massachusetts and around the country compete for TSA contracts.

 
“Why should an agency fraught with wasteful spending and contract mismanagement continue to receive a free ride while every other major federal agency must abide by the law? The taxpayers deserve better. Our small businesses deserve better. This change to bring transparency and accountability to the TSA is long overdue,” said Kerry.

 
Kerry said the funding bill for the nation’s homeland security also includes a key provision he is supporting: a delay in implementing a new rule that would have forced US travelers to carry a passport when they to and from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda. The rule was supposed to take effect on Jan. 1 but under the new rule – which the Bush Administration is resisting – the rule could not go into effect until June 1.

The homeland security funding bill also includes money for FEMA, for port security, for mass transit security, $570 million to hire 3,000 additional border patrol agents, $1 billion for border fencing, infrastructure and technology, $146 million for 4,000 additional detention beds, $529.4 million, $89.4 million more than the president’s request, to purchase and install explosives detection equipment

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