Still, the 10-member commission created last year by Congress and President Bush is getting $2 million less than it wanted in extra funding.
Commentary:
Even the Warren Commission, the U.S. government's widely-disbelieved investigation of Pres. Kennedy's 1963 assassination, was budgeted at $5.5-million — in 1963 funds. Adjusted for inflation, that's more than $32-million in 2003 dollars.
You might think it would cost substantially more to thoroughly investigate a complicated event — nineteen foreign hijackers commandeering four passenger jets and obliterating the World Trade Center, damaging the Pentagon, and killing thousands of Americans — than to investigate the shooting of the president in a parade.
The Bush Administration seems to disagree. They think it should cost substantially less.
=H&HH= |
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Adjusted for inflation...
9/11 investigation gets less than half
the budget of JFK's Warren Commission
Associated Press March 29, 2003
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is adding another $9 million to the Sept. 11 commission's budget, after its members said $3 million wasn't enough for a thorough review.
The new budget of $12 million to study that day's terrorist attacks should be enough to meet the independent and bipartisan commission's needs for its remaining 14 months of work, chairman Thomas H. Kean and vice chairman Lee Hamilton said in a letter to the White House.
"We thank you for this great support in these extraordinary times," they wrote.
Still, the 10-member commission created last year by Congress and President Bush is getting $2 million less than it wanted in extra funding.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the administration worked with the commission to agree on the funding. "The commission's work is important to our nation's security," he said.
Along with commission members, some lawmakers and relatives of Sept. 11 victims also had questioned the adequacy of the initial $3 million budget. Congress authorized that amount in the legislation creating the commission, which Bush signed into law in November.
The panel is assembling a staff of 50 to 60 people to help with its investigation and to write a report due to be completed by May 2004.
Its scope is broad, covering issues such as intelligence, law enforcement, diplomacy, aviation, the flow of assets to terrorist organizations and the government's response on the day of the attacks.
Commission members plan to hold their first public hearings Monday and Tuesday in New York City.
Published by
Associated Press
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