On Thursday the House passed a bill that, as Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) said in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, “diverts CIA and other intelligence resources away from critical terrorism-related missions to study global climate change.”

Saying the Democrats’ 2008 intelligence authorization bill is a throwback to the mistakes of the 1990s when scarce resources were diverted to issues that clearly were not related to the businesses of intelligence, Hoekstra explained there was a mistaken belief then that serious threats to U.S. national security diminished or disappeared with the end of the Cold War. Intelligence spending was slashed in what was called then a post-Cold War “peace dividend.”

“I fear the intelligence authorization being voted on by Congress demonstrates some of the same short-sightedness of the 1990s.While Democrats call for U.S. intelligence agencies to study global climate change, they continue to grossly underestimate the terrorist threat. They willfully ignore or play down world-wide activity by radical jihadists, including this week’s arrest in New Jersey of six men — who may have been influenced by al Qaeda terrorist training tapes — for allegedly planning to kill hundreds of soldiers at Fort Dix and other military installations in the Northeast.

This past weekend, Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda’s No. 2 leader, in a videotape message, mocked Democratic legislation to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq as a sign of American weakness and mentioned using Afghanistan and Iraq as bases to launch attacks.”

The world is in a perilous place. We must spend our limited intelligence dollars wisely. Hoekstra warns that we need our intelligence analysts focused on threats that require clandestine effort and classified information, such as rogue state weapons of mass destruction programs, al Qaeda and threats to American lives.

Florida Congressman Tom Feeney, a conservative Republican who represents my District, is outraged that in a post 9/11 environment, Democrats have the audacity to bring legislation to the floor of the House that guts funds for intelligence resources while attempting to hide earmarks for members’ home projects.

“Once again, the earmark process was abused yesterday. I share Rep. Jeff Flake’s concerns that pork-barrel projects should not pass Congress without proper debate, and I have joined him in cosponsoring earmark reform to make sure that earmarks like those in the Intelligence Bill are exposed to the light of day.

“Our country’s safety depends on its ability to gather intelligence, and this legislation irresponsibly turns a blind eye to the fact that we now live in a different and dangerous world. In order to protect America’s interests and security, our intelligence agencies must receive the tools they need without politically charged red tape.”

We are facing the most malignant danger this country and western civilization has ever known, and the Democrats pull a stunt like this?

They are out of their minds, driven by a blinding and consuming lust for power. They have no shame. And their actions set us up for disaster.