PRESERVE JUSTICE FUNDING

Reyes Is Correct To Oppose Any Reductions

President Bush, casting about for ways to cut federal departmental budgets
to make easier a proposed tax cut, wants to shave a reported $1 billion
from the Justice Department beginning next fiscal year, Oct. 1.

Though the reasoning is laudable, the result could be costly for El Paso.

U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, is correct to oppose the cuts and urge
Bush not to make them. "By proposing such a large-scale budget cut," Reyes
wrote in a letter to Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft, "you will
take away the ability of several judicial organizations to perform their
duties as protectors of our laws and personal security. The safety of our
citizens and our borders should be a budget priority."

Reyes is rightly concerned that such a draconian cut could, among other
things, imperil the prosecution of federal drug cases in El Paso. District
Attorney Jaime Esparza has waged a constant battle with the feds to recover
costs of prosecutions, as have district attorneys all along the southern
border.

On a larger scale, the job of the Justice Department certainly isn't
shrinking, particularly, as Reyes pointed out, with Ashcroft's goals of
prosecuting gun offenses and intensifying the war on drugs. If anything,
that would seem to demand more, not less, funding.

There's little doubt that there are billions of dollars in federal-agency
budgets that could be cut with relatively little deleterious result. And
such cuts should be made.

But the cuts must be made judiciously and in an informed manner.