DALLAS — Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Thursday that politics did not influence the decision to spend millions of dollars in stimulus money on little-used border checkpoints while passing over higher-priority projects.
Members of Congress have asked for answers after The Associated Press showed that the Obama administration did not follow its internal priority list when handing out money to repair border stations nationwide.
Two Montana senators have taken credit for securing money for projects in their state, including $15 million for a border crossing that sees about three travelers a day.
At a Dallas news conference Thursday, Napolitano said the article "was just wrong and I'll say that because there was no kind of political issues involved there."
Front Section, Pages 8 on 08/28/2009