A few weeks ago, I wrote about Day One of the ballyhooed First 100 Hours of Democrat rule in the House. It involved hasty passage, in the absence of any hearings on cost, effectiveness or anything else, of many — but not, as previously advertised, all — of the remaining 9/11 Commission recommendations.

The Congressional Budget Office has now estimated the costs of the dubious initiatives (such as inspecting every piece of cargo entering the United States by air or sea). It’s not pretty: $21 billion over five years — which translates into about half the entire homeland security budget for this year.

The New York Times reports the reaction of Rep. Pete King (R-NY), now the ranking member on the Homeland Security Commmittee: “This bill was rushed to the floor without the Democratic leadership giving us any indication of its massive cost[.] And now we know why.”