Lawmakers ask Obama not to cut Pa.-based NDIC

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Two Democrat lawmakers are asking the Obama administration not to cut funding for the National Drug Intelligence Center in Johnstown.

U.S. Rep. Mark Critz and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey released a letter they recently sent to the Office of Management and Budget asking to preserve the center’s funding, when they were asked by the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat about a Wall Street Journal report that the center’s annual funding may be cut by $17 million and downsized in 2012. The NDIC’s annual budget has been about $44 million.

Critz succeeded U.S. Rep. John Murtha, a powerful Democrat who fought to bring the NDIC to his hometown of Johnstown, about 60 miles east of Pittsburgh.

The lawmakers’ letter argues that the NDIC does unique work not duplicated by other agencies.