Tom Tancredo: “I am, however, going to suggest that we should reduce the budget for the National Endowment by $60 million and redirect…”

“I am, however, going to suggest that we should reduce the budget for the National Endowment by $60 million and redirect the money to the budget for the U.S. Forest Service for law enforcement services. Thankfully, the committee rejected calls by the administration to increase financing for the National Endowment for the Arts by as much as $20 million this year, but spending $120 million and change for taxpayers' funded arts still makes no sense. Many people on both sides of the aisle have long recognized the need for additional law enforcement personnel on our public lands. The sprawling Coronado National Forest in southern Arizona, for example, which shares a border with Mexico, has fewer than a dozen law enforcement personnel, this despite the fact that it has become a hotbed for drug and immigrant smuggling and a welcome mat for would-be terrorists attempting to enter the United States from Mexico through sparsely patrolled wildlands. A young park ranger in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument was murdered by Mexican drug smugglers in 2002.”