The raging debate on Capitol Hill over the Libya consulate attack has put a spotlight on the State Department’s security spending, with some questioning whether money spent on electric cars and green-embassy programs could have been put to better use.
Federal contract records show the department in May spent $108,000 on Chevy Volt charging stations for the American Embassy in Vienna. It apparently was part of a broader program to make diplomatic posts more energy efficient, and the upgrades and electric cars were on full display at a gala a few days after that contract was signed.
But Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., is scrutinizing the spending in light of concerns that the State Department turned down requests for more security in eastern Libya in the run-up to the Sept. 11 attack that killed four Americans.
Democrats, though, suggest Republicans are the ones undermining security at U.S. embassies with sweeping budget cuts. As Republicans hammered the Obama administration during a House hearing Wednesday on the Libya attack, Democratic lawmakers claimed it was Republicans who had their priorities mixed up.
“The fact is that since 2011, the House has cut embassy security by hundreds of millions of dollars, below the amounts requested by the president,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Cummings called on Republicans to join him in calling for a supplemental funding bill to “restore funding for embassy security,” suggesting lawmakers do so by closing tax breaks for oil companies.
While the GOP-led House has pushed to reduce the budget for embassy security, construction and maintenance, Congress, which included support from Democrats, ultimately agreed on a $1.54 billion budget. That’s more than the $1.43 million committee Republicans recommended, though 5 percent less than the 2011 figure. The budget was $1.63 billion in fiscal 2011 and $1.82 billion in fiscal 2010.
Kelly argues that the problem isn’t the level of funding but how the money that’s budgeted is being spent.
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