The House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee (HAC HS) on Thursday unanimously approved a $39.3 billion spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), $2.1 billion less than requested for FY ’16.
Among the spending cuts are funds for the ongoing consolidation of the DHS headquarters campus, civilian pay raises due to the inability to fill staff positions next year, a new climate change program, and rescission of $1.2 billion in unused prior-year funding from the disaster relief fund managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Rep. John Carter (R-Texas), chairman of the HAC HS, said the department’s “financial management processes are weak. With over 70 different appropriations and more than 100 programs, DHS functions with significant budget disparities and inconsistencies. And I am absolutely certain the current budget structure is a contributing factor to the rampant under-execution of personnel costs. We have to change this paradigm.”
Carter also said the bill mandates that when DHS submits its FY ’17 budget request next year, it be presented to Congress “in a new format that uses a common appropriations structure for every DHS component. Implementing this type of financial management tool is a strategic imperative with which DHS agrees.”
Despite the overall cut to the request, the proposed bill still adds funds in some areas including the Coast Guard acquisition account, Customs and Border Protection’s border security technology and Air and Marine accounts, and the Science and Technology branch. The full committee is expected to mark-up the bill next Tuesday, at which time it will release a full report detailing its recommendations for DHS and its components.
Senate appropriators last month approved their version of the spending bill, proposing $40.2 billion in discretionary appropriations for the department.
No amendments were introduced during the relatively brief subcommittee mark, which was completed with a voice vote. Amendments are expected to be introduced during the full committee markup.