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There’s so much at stake from the mammoth tax and budget bill in Congress, and what citizen can fathom the reality of $3 trillion? So why do I shine a light on an infinitesimal appropriation under Title VI, Homeland Security? Because it defies the public good and common sense. And it is a harbinger of dreadful things to come.
Section 60005 follows four sections of appropriations to the Department of Homeland Security for over $71.7 billion; Section 60005 appropriates $300 million “for the reimbursement of extraordinary law enforcement personnel costs for protection activities directly and demonstrably associated with any residence of the President . . . secured by the United States Secret Service.”
The appropriation does not come from the Secret Service’s budget, but from FEMA, For a non-natural disaster. It is sad that $300 million is not available to victims of tornados or fires or floods that are sure to come. But that the Secret Service requires physical reinforcements to protect a single property is frightening.
The appropriation seems to foresee another of President Donald Trump’s so-called emergencies, which many recognize only to be of his own creation. Through this bill, he grabs $300 million for his private residence while sacrificing the safety of individual life.
This mammoth bill, while costing the American people so very much, has apparently also been created to reinforce one man’s supremacy. As Trump is seeking to secure the power to carve out FEMA money for himself we can easily imagine Mar-a-Lago becoming the armed presidential palace of a dictator.
It can really happen.
Barbara Hausman
Belfast
