The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday approved a $49.7 billion net discretionary spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security in fiscal year 2020, sending the measure to the House along a party line vote with 29 Democrats in favor and 20 Republicans opposed.
Republican Kay Granger (R-Texas), the ranking member on the committee, just as she did when the Homeland Security Subcommittee approved the bill last week, warned that the bill isn’t likely to enacted because it doesn’t provide any of the $5 billion requested by the Trump administration for additional physical barriers on the southwest border.
Driving the partisan divide over the bill on the committee are elimination of funding for construction of the barriers and cuts for new Border Patrol agents as well as to the budget request for Immigration and Customs Enforcement related to interior enforcement operations, migrant detention and removal operations.
“Because DHS has failed to fully comply with the requirement in the fiscal year 2018 funding bill to provide a risk-based plan for improving border security, the bill provides no funding for new additional barriers,” Rep. Lucille Royal-Allard (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee, said in her opening remarks of the markup. “At the very least, a validated plan should be in place before we consider spending any more taxpayer dollars on new border barriers,” she added.
Otherwise, Democrats and Republicans on the committee agree there is broad bipartisan support related to provisions in their bill to increase spending on the Coast Guard, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Secret Service and Transportation Security Administration.
The proposed bill does increase spending for border security technology and would add new positions for Customs and Border Protection for officers at ports of entry. The legislation also encourages CBP to study the possibility of using contractor-provided security services for border security technology as a way to refresh technology more frequently and potentially reduce costs, according to a report accompanying the FY ’20 spending measure.
This provision doesn’t specify whether the managed services would be at or between ports of entry, although it’s more likely this support would be at ports of entry. Rapiscan Systems, which is the security division of OSI Systems
[OSIS], provides its non-intrusive inspection (NII) equipment and personnel for screening and ports of entry of several countries, including Albania, Guatemala and Mexico, and the U.S. territory Puerto Rico.
The bill also provides $135 million for the Coast Guard’s Polar Security Cutter (PSC) program, which appears to enjoy bipartisan support on the committee. Of the recommended amount for the PSC, $100 million is for long-lead materials for the second heavy polar icebreaker.
The committee is also proposing $100 million in long-lead funding for a potential 12th National Security Cutter (NSC) for the Coast Guard. The original program was for eight NSCs, but Congress has provided funding for 11 of the high-endurance cutters, which are replacing 12 aging legacy Hamilton-class cutters.
The report says the Coast Guard is assessing whether it needs one more NSC. The Coast Guard’s top two acquisition priorities are the Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC), a medium-endurance vessel, and the PSC, which the service wants at least three of. Service officials don’t want additional NSCs to come at the expense of any of the planned buy of 35 OPCs.
In response to a query from Defense Daily, a spokesman for the Coast Guard’s acquisition directorate replied via email that “The current fleet of National Security Cutters has surpassed performance expectations and provides an outstanding return on investment. Although NSCs are exceptionally effective, the Offshore Patrol Cutter and Polar Security Cutter remain the Coast Guard’s highest priority acquisitions. The Coast Guard will continue to work with Congress and the Administration to execute funding for the Coast Guard’s shipbuilding programs and deliver additional capability to the fleet.”
Senate appropriators have yet to mark up their proposals for the FY ’20 DHS bill.