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This report provides an overview and analysis of FY2019 appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The primary focus of this report is on congressional direction and funding provided to DHS through the appropriations process. It includes an Appendix with definitions of key budget terms used throughout the suite of Congressional Research Service reports on homeland security appropriations. It also directs the reader to other reports providing context for specific component appropriations.
As part of an overall DHS budget that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) estimated to be $74.88 billion, the Trump Administration requested $47.43 billion in adjusted net discretionary budget authority through the appropriations process for DHS for FY2018. The request amounted to a $0.29 billion (0.6%) decrease from the $47.72 billion in annual appropriations enacted for FY2018 through the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2018 (P.L. 115-141, Division F).
The Administration also requested discretionary funding for DHS components that does not count against discretionary spending limits and is not reflected in the adjusted net discretionary budget authority total. The Administration requested an additional $6.65 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in disaster relief funding, as defined by the Budget Control Act (P.L. 112-25; BCA), and in the budget request for the Department of Defense (DOD), $165 million in Overseas Contingency Operations designated funding (OCO) from the Operations and Maintenance budget of the U.S. Navy.
On June 21, 2018, the Senate Committee on Appropriations reported out S. 3109, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2019, accompanied by S.Rept. 115-283. Committee-reported S. 3109 included $48.33 billion in adjusted net discretionary budget authority for FY2019. This was $901 million (1.9%) above the level requested by the Administration, and $611 million (1.3%) above the enacted level for FY2018. The Senate committee-reported bill included the Administration-requested levels for disaster relief funding, and included the OCO funding in an appropriation to the Coast Guard, rather than as a transfer from the U.S. Navy.
On July 26, 2018, the House Appropriations Committee marked up H.R. 6776, its version of the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2019. H.Rept. 115-948 was filed September 12, 2018. Committee -reported H.R. 6776 included $51.44 billion in adjusted net discretionary budget authority. The House committee-reported bill included the Administration-requested levels for disaster relief funding, but unlike S. 3109, did not include the OCO funding for the Coast Guard.
As some of the annual appropriations for FY2019 remained unfinished, a consolidated appropriations bill that included a continuing resolution was passed by Congress and signed into law on September 28, 2018. The resolution continued funding at a rate of operations equal to that of the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2018, with some exceptions. The continuing resolution is set to expire December 7, 2018, or when annual appropriations are enacted for DHS, whichever comes first.
This report will be updated as the FY2019 appropriations process continues.
This report provides an overview and analysis of FY2019 appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The primary focus of this report is on congressional direction and funding provided to DHS through the appropriations process. It includes an Appendix with definitions of key budget terms used throughout the suite of Congressional Research Service reports on homeland security appropriations. It also directs the reader to other reports providing context for specific component appropriations.
As part of an overall budget that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) estimated to be $74.88 billion, the Trump Administration requested $47.43 billion in adjusted net discretionary budget authority through the appropriations process for DHS for FY2018. The request amounted to a $0.29 billion (0.6%) decrease from the $47.72 billion in annual appropriations enacted for FY2018 through the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2018 (P.L. 115-141, Division F).
The Administration also requested discretionary funding for DHS components that does not count against discretionary spending limits and is not reflected in the adjusted net discretionary budget authority total. The Administration requested an additional $6.65 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in disaster relief funding, as defined by the Budget Control Act (P.L. 112-25; BCA), and in the budget request for the Department of Defense (DOD), $165 million in Overseas Contingency Operations designated funding (OCO) from the Operations and Maintenance budget of the U.S. Navy.
On June 21, 2018, the Senate Committee on Appropriations reported out S. 3109, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2019, accompanied by S.Rept. 115-283. Committee-reported S. 3109 included $48.33 billion in adjusted net discretionary budget authority for FY2019. This was $901 million (1.9%) above the level requested by the Administration, and $611 million (1.3%) above the enacted level for FY2018. The Senate committee-reported bill included the Administration-requested levels for disaster relief funding, and included the OCO funding in an appropriation to the Coast Guard, rather than as a transfer from the U.S. Navy.
On July 26, 2018, the House Appropriations Committee marked up H.R. 6776, its version of the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2019. H.Rept. 115-948 was filed September 12, 2018. Committee reported H.R. 6776 included $51.44 billion in adjusted net discretionary budget authority. The House committee-reported bill included the Administration-requested levels for disaster relief funding, but unlike S. 3109, did not include the OCO funding for the Coast Guard.
As some of the annual appropriations for FY2019 remained unfinished, a consolidated appropriations bill that included a continuing resolution was passed by Congress and signed into law on September 28, 2018. The resolution continued funding at a rate of operations equal to that of the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2018, with some exceptions. The continuing resolution is set to expire December 7, 2018, or when annual appropriations are enacted for DHS, whichever comes first.
P.L. 116-6, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019, was passed by Congress on February 14, 2019, and signed into law the following day. Division A of the act included the Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2019, which included $49.41 billion in adjusted net discretionary budget authority, $12 billion designated for the costs of major disasters, and $165 million in OCO funding for the Coast Guard.This report will be updated as the FY2019 appropriations process continues The resolution, which covered DHS along with several other departments and agencies, continued funding at a rate of operations equal to FY2018 with some exceptions. This continuing resolution was extended through December 21, 2018, after which point annual appropriations lapsed. A partial government shutdown ensued for 35 days until continuing appropriations were resumed January 25, 2019, by P.L. 116-5.
This report describes and analyzes annual appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for FY2019. It compares the enacted FY2018 appropriations for DHS, the Donald J. Trump Administration's FY2019 budget request, and the appropriations measures developed and considered by Congress in response to it. This report identifies additional informational resources, reports, and products on DHS appropriations that provide context for the discussion, and it provides a list of Congressional Research Service (CRS) policy experts with whom clients may consult on specific topics.
The suite of CRS reports on homeland security appropriations tracks legislative action and congressional issues related to DHS appropriations, with particular attention paid to discretionary funding amounts. These reports do not provide in-depth analysis of specific issues related to mandatory funding—such as retirement pay—nor do they systematically follow other legislation related to the authorizing or amending of DHS programs, activities, or fee revenues.
Discussion of appropriations legislation involves a variety of specialized budgetary concepts. The Appendix to this report explains several of these concepts, including budget authority, obligations, outlays, discretionary and mandatory spending, offsetting collections, allocations, and adjustments to the discretionary spending caps under the Budget Control Act (BCA; P.L. 112-25). A more complete discussion of those terms and the appropriations process in general can be found in CRS Report R42388, The Congressional Appropriations Process: An Introduction, coordinated by [author name scrubbed]James V. Saturno, and the Government Accountability Office's A Glossary of Terms Used in the Federal Budget Process.1
Describing DHS Funding: The annual DHS budget proposal is complex, including a variety of funding mechanisms.2 The funding provided through these mechanisms can be totaled in several different ways to summarize what is in the bill. These methods have evolved to answer slightly different questions: how the bill fits into the budget process, the level of resources provided to the agency, and the net cost of the bill to the U.S. government.
In a departure from the practices of many other agencies, in DHS budget documents, the term net discretionary budget authority does not take into account the impact of rescissions—only offsets through collections. Instead, DHS documents refer to adjusted net discretionary budget authority to indicate discretionary appropriations net of both offsetting collections and rescissions. This is the total that counts against discretionary spending limits, and it is the total used most commonly in congressional debate about the size of appropriations legislation. To avoid confusion when readers interpret DHS documents, CRS reporting on DHS appropriations uses the latter term to describe that total, rather than the more common usage. |
All amounts contained in the suite of CRS reports on homeland security appropriations represent budget authority. For precision in percentages and totals, all calculations in these reports used unrounded data, which are presented in each report's tables. However, amounts in narrative discussions are rounded to the nearest million (or ten10 million, in the case of numbers larger than one1 billion), unless noted otherwise.
Data used in this report for FY2018 amounts are derived from the explanatory statement accompanying P.L. 115-141, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017—Division F of which is the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2018.5 The explanatory statement also includes data on FY2018 supplemental appropriations for DHS enacted prior to the development of the consolidated appropriations act for FY2018. Data for the FY2019 requested levels and enacted levels are drawn from H.Rept. 116-9, the explanatory statement accompanying P.L. 116-6. Data on the Senate Appropriations Committee recommendation are drawn from S.Rept. 115-283, and data for the House Appropriations Committee recommendation are drawn from H.Rept. 115-948.
Scoring methodology is consistent across this report, relying on data provided by the Appropriations Committees that has been developed with Congressional Budget Office (CBO) methodology. Comparisons between this data and that developed using Office of Management and Budget (OMB) methodology should be made with caution, as technical scoring differences could result in flawed analysis.
This section provides an overview of the process of enactment of appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for FY2019. It includes the process for the annual appropriations bill from the request through the Senate Appropriations Committee filing its report for the FY2019 DHS Appropriations Act, 2019CRS does not attempt to compare this data with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) data because technical scoring differences do not allow precise comparisons.
Legislative Action on FY2019 DHS Appropriations
This section provides an overview of the process of enactment of appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for FY2019, from the Administration's initial request, through committee action in the House and Senate, continuing appropriations (and their lapse), and enactment of the consolidated appropriations bill that contained DHS annual appropriation.
On February 12, 2018, the Trump Administration released its budget request for FY2019. The enactment of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (P.L. 115-123) three days before had established discretionary spending limits for FY2018 and FY2019, replacing the limits prescribed by the Budget Control Act of 2011 (P.L. 112-25). The Administration chose to submit an addendum to their request in a letter accompanying the formal request documentation, which included additional requests for resources for DHS and several other departments and agencies.6
The Trump Administration requested $47.43 billion in adjusted net discretionary budget authority for DHS for FY2019, as part of an overall budget that the Office of Management and Budget estimated to be $74.88 billion (including fees, trust funds, and other funding that is not annually appropriated or does not score against discretionary budget limits). The request amounted to a $0.29 billion (0.6%) decrease from the $47.72 billion in annual appropriations enacted for FY2018 through the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2018 (P.L. 115-141, Division F).
The Trump Administration also requested discretionary funding for DHS components that does not count against discretionary spending limits set by the Budget Control Act (BCA; P.L. 112-25) and is not reflected in the above totals. The Administration requested an additional $6.65 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in disaster relief funding, as defined by the BCA, and in the budget request for the Department of Defense, $165 million in Overseas Contingency Operations/Global War on Terror designated funding (OCO), to be transferred to the Coast Guard.7
On June 21, 2018, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported out S. 3109, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2019, accompanied by S.Rept. 115-283. Committee-reported S. 3109 included $48.33 billion in adjusted net discretionary budget authority for FY2019. This was $901 million (1.9%) above the level requested by the Administration, and $611 million (1.3%) above the enacted level for FY2018. The Senate committee-reported bill also included the Administration-requested levels for disaster relief funding, and $163 million in OCO-designated funding directly for the Coast Guard, as had been done in FY2018, rather than as a transfer, as had been requested by the Administration. This bill was never taken up for action on the Senate floor.
House Committee .
On July 26, 2018, the House Appropriations Committee marked up H.R. 6776, its version of the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2019. H.Rept. 115-948 was filed September 12, 2018. Committee-reported H.R. 6776 included $51.44 billion in adjusted net discretionary budget authority. The House committee-reported bill included the Administration-requested levels for disaster relief funding, but unlike S. 3109, did not include the OCO funding for the Coast Guard.
As some of the annual appropriations for FY2019 remained unfinished, a consolidated appropriations bill that included a continuing resolution was passed by Congress and signed into law on September 28, 2018, as P.L. 115-245. . The continuing resolution (Division C) continued funding for DHS at a rate of operations equal to that of the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2018, with some exceptions.8 The continuing resolution is set to expirewas extended through December 7, 2018, or when annual appropriations are enacted for DHS, whichever comes first.
On February 14, 2019, the House took up H.J.Res. 31, a consolidated appropriations bill that included eight annual appropriations bills. Division A, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2019, included $49.41 billion in adjusted net discretionary budget authority, $1.69 billion (3.5%) more than had been provided for FY2018, and $2.04 billion more than had been requested by the Administration in February 2018. In addition to that total, the bill included $12 billion designated for the costs of major disasters—$5.35 billion (80.4%) more than had been requested, and the requested $165 million in OCO funding appropriated for the Coast Guard operating budget, rather than a transfer from the Navy. The bill passed the House by a vote of 300-128, and the Senate that same day by a vote of 83-16. The President signed it into law the next day.9
Generally, the homeland security appropriations bill includes all annual appropriations provided for DHS, allocating resources to every departmental component.910 Discretionary appropriations1011 provide roughly two-thirds to three-fourths of the annual funding for DHS operations, depending how one accounts for disaster relief spending and funding for overseas contingency operations.1112 The remainder of the budget is a mix of fee revenues, trust funds, and mandatory spending.
Appropriations measures for DHS typically have been organized into five titles.1213 The first four are thematic groupings of components, while the fifth provides general direction to the department, and sometimes includes provisions providing additional budget authority.
Prior to the FY2017 act, the legislative language of many appropriations included directions to components or specific conditions on how the budget authority it provided could be used. Similarly, general provisions provided directions or conditions to one or more components. In the FY2017 act, a number of these provisions within appropriations and component-specific general provisions were grouped at the ends of the titles where their targeted components are funded, and identified as "administrative provisions."1314 This practice has continued in subsequent years.
When DHS was established in 2003, components of other agencies were brought together over a matter of months, in the midst of ongoing budget cycles. Rather than developing a new structure of appropriations for the entire department, Congress and the Administration continued to provide resources through existing account structures when possible.
At the direction of Congress, in 2014 DHS began to work on a new Common Appropriations Structure (CAS), which would standardize the format of DHS appropriations across components. In an interim report in 2015, DHS noted that operating with "over 70 different appropriations and over 100 Programs, Projects, and Activities ... has contributed to a lack of transparency, inhibited comparisons between programs, and complicated spending decisions and other managerial decision-making."14
After several years of work and negotiations with Congress, DHS made its first budget request in the CAS for FY2017, and implemented it while operating under the continuing resolutions funding the department in October 2016. For FY2017 and FY2018, all DHS components requested appropriations under the CAS except for the Coast Guard, due to constraints of its financial management system. For FY2019, all the components' requests generally conformed to the CAS.
A visual representation of the FY2019 requested funding in this new structure follows in Figure 1. On the left, CAS appropriations categories are listed next to a black bar representing the total FY2018 funding levels requested for DHS for each category. A catch-all "other" category is included for budget authority associated with the legislation that does not fit the CAS categories. Colored lines flow to the DHS components listed on the right, showing how the amount of funding for each appropriations category is distributed across DHS components. Wider lines indicate greater funding levels, so it is possible to understand how components may be funded differently. For example, while Customs and Border Protection (CBP) gets most of its funding from Operations and Support appropriations, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) receives most of its discretionary funding from the Disaster Relief Fund appropriation.
The following sections present textual and tabular comparisons among FY2018 enacted appropriations, FY2019 requested appropriations, and the FY2019 appropriations bills being developed by Congress for the departmentthe appropriations committees, and the final enacted annual appropriation in Division A of the FY2019 Consolidated Appropriations Act (P.L. 116-6). The structure of the appropriations reflects the organization outlined in the detail table of the explanatory statement accompanying the FY2018 Consolidated Appropriations Act (P.L. 115-141act (H.Rept. 116-9).
The tables summarize enacted appropriations for FY2018, and those requested by the Administration, and proposed in appropriations committee-developed legislation under development for FY2019.
Title I, Departmental Management and Operations, the smallest of the component-specific titles, contains appropriations for the Office of the Secretary and Executive Management, the Management Directorate,1516 Analysis and Operations (A&O), and the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). For FY2018, these components received $1.36 billion in net discretionary funding through the appropriations process, including $25 million in FY2018 supplemental appropriations.
Table 1. Budgetary Resources for Departmental Management and Operations Components, FY2017 and FY2018
(budget authority in thousands of dollars)
FY2018 |
FY2019 |
|||||||
Component/Appropriation |
Enacted |
Request |
Senate Committee-Reported S. 3109 |
House Committee-Reported H.R. 6776 |
Enacted P.L. 116-6 |
|||
Office of the Secretary and Executive Management |
|
|
|
|
||||
Operations and Support |
139,602 |
128,860 |
132,904 |
139,926 141,381 |
||||
Total Discretionary Appropriations |
139,602 |
128,860 |
132,904 |
139,926 141,381 |
||||
Total Discretionary Funding |
139,602 |
128,860 |
132,904 |
139,926 141,381 |
||||
Total Budgetary Resources |
139,602 |
128,860 |
132,904 |
139,926 141,381 |
||||
Management Directorate |
||||||||
Operations and Support |
710,297 |
834,704 |
824,479 |
845,528 1,083,837 |
||||
Procurement, Construction, and Improvements |
29,569 |
246,069 |
117,071 |
74,920 175,920 |
||||
Research and Development |
2,545 |
2,545 |
2,545 |
2,545 |
2,545 |
|||
Title I Discretionary Appropriations |
742,411 |
1,083,318 |
944,095 |
922,993 |
1,262,302 |
|||
Appropriations drawn from DRF unobligated balances |
0 |
0 |
72,000 |
0 |
0 |
|||
Title I Net Discretionary Appropriations |
742,411 |
1,083,318 |
872,095 |
922,993 |
1,262,302 |
|||
Financial Systems Modernization (Title V) |
41,800 |
0 |
39,000 |
0 |
51,000 |
|||
Total Net Discretionary Appropriations |
784,211 |
1,083,318 |
911,095 |
922,993 |
1,313,302 |
|||
Total Net Discretionary Funding |
784,211 |
1,083,318 |
911,095 |
922,993 |
1,313,302 |
|||
Total Budgetary Resources |
784,211 |
1,083,318 |
983,095 |
922,993 |
1,313,302 |
|||
Analysis and Operations |
||||||||
Operations and Support |
245,905 |
253,253 |
254,476 |
259,253 253,253 |
||||
Total Discretionary Appropriations |
245,905 |
253,253 |
254,476 |
259,253 253,253 |
||||
Total Discretionary Funding |
245,905 |
253,253 |
254,476 |
259,253 253,253 |
||||
Total Budgetary Resources |
245,905 |
253,253 |
254,476 |
259,253 253,253 |
||||
Office of the Inspector General |
||||||||
Operations and Support |
168,000 |
138,369 |
168,000 |
162,639 168,000 |
||||
Title I Discretionary Appropriations |
168,000 |
138,369 |
168,000 |
162,369 168,000 |
||||
Transfer from FEMA's DRF [Title III]a |
0 |
24,000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|||
FY2018 Supplemental Appropriations |
||||||||
Operations and Support (emergency, P.L. 115-123) |
25,000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|||
Total Discretionary Appropriations |
168,000 |
138,369 |
168,000 |
162,369 168,000 |
||||
Total Discretionary Funding (all sources, except transfers) |
193,000 |
138,369 |
168,000 |
162,369 168,000 |
||||
Total Budgetary Resources |
193,000 |
162,369 |
168,000 |
162,369 168,000 |
||||
Total Net Discretionary Appropriations: Title I |
1,295,918 |
1,603,800 |
1,427,475 |
1,484,541 1,824,936 |
||||
Total Net Discretionary Funding (all sources, except transfers) |
1,362,718 |
1,603,800 |
1,466,475 |
1,484,541 1,875,936 |
||||
Projected Total Gross Budgetary Resources: Title I Components |
1,362,718 |
1,627,800 |
1,538,475 |
1,484,541 1,875,936 |
Sources: CRS analysis of the DHS FY2019 Budget-in-Brief, P.L. 115-141 and its explanatory statement as printed in the Congressional Record of March 22, 2018, pp. H2544-H2608, S.Rept. 115-283, H.Rept. 115-948, and H.Rept. 115-948116-9.
Notes: FEMA = Federal Emergency Management Agency; DRF = Disaster Relief Fund. Appropriation subtotal lines are shaded, numbers in italics do not contribute separately to appropriation subtotals, numbers in bold represent appropriations plus emergency, disaster relief, and overseas contingency operations-designated funding, numbers in bold italics represent totals of all funding tracked in appropriations committee tables.
a. The Administration requested a $24 million transfer from FEMA's DRF to pay for oversight of disaster-related activities of the DHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) that are reflected in the last line of this section and table.
Title II, Security, Enforcement, and Investigations, contains appropriations for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Coast Guard (USCG), and the U.S. Secret Service (USSS). Title II funding represents the majority of DHS's budget, comprising roughly three-quarters of the funding appropriated annually for the department.
For FY2018, these components received $39.52 billion in net discretionary funding, as part of $47.13 billion in projected total budget authority. This included $1.06 billion in supplemental appropriations.
Table 2 shows these comparisons in greater detail.
Table 2. Budgetary Resources for Security, Enforcement, and Investigations Components, FY2018 and FY2019
(budget authority in thousands of dollars)
FY2018 |
FY2019 |
||||
Component/Appropriation |
Enacted |
Request |
Senate Committee-Reported S. 3109 |
House Committee-Reported H.R. 6776 |
Enacted P.L. 116-6 |
Customs and Border Protection (Annual) |
|||||
Operations and Support |
11,485,164 |
12,119,643 |
11,963,581 |
12,002,072 12,179,729 |
|
Procurement, Construction and Improvements |
2,281,357 |
1,841,548 |
2,028,872 |
5,510,244 2,515,878 |
|
CBP Services at User Fee Facilities (Permanent Indefinite Discretionary) |
9,001 |
8,941 |
8,941 |
8,941 |
8,941 |
Colombia Free Trade Act Collections (Administrative Provision) |
242,000 |
255,000 |
255,000 |
255,000 |
255,000 |
Reimbursable Preclearance (Administrative Provision) |
39,000 |
39,000 |
39,000 |
39,000 |
39,000 |
Total Annual Discretionary Appropriations |
14,056,522 |
14,264,132 |
14,295,394 |
17,815,257 |
14,998,548 |
Offsetting Collection (Reimbursable Preclearance) |
39,000 |
39,000 |
39,000 |
39,000 |
39,000 |
Total Annual Net Discretionary Appropriations |
14,017,522 |
14,225,132 |
14,256,394 |
17,776,257 |
14,959,548 |
FY2018 Supplemental Appropriations |
|||||
Operations and Support (emergency, P.L. 115-123) |
104,494 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Procurement, Construction and Improvements (emergency, P.L. 115-123) |
45,000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Total Net Discretionary Funding |
14,167,016 |
14,225,132 |
14,256,394 |
17,776,257 |
14,959,548 |
Fees, Mandatory Spending, and Trust Funds |
2,300,668 |
2,455,185 |
2,297,702 |
2,298,185 |
2,297,702 |
Total Budgetary Resources |
16,506,684 |
16, |
16, |
20,113,442 17,296,250 |
|
Immigration and Customs Enforcement |
|||||
Operations and Support |
6,993,975 |
8, |
7,139,842 |
7,333,079 7,542,153 |
|
Procurement, Construction, and Improvements |
81,899 |
70,431 |
70,431 |
70,431 |
45,559 |
Total Annual Discretionary Appropriations |
7,075,874 |
8,291, |
7,210,273 |
7,403,510 7,587,712 |
|
FY2018 Supplemental Appropriations |
|||||
Operations and Support (emergency, P.L. 115-123) |
30,905 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Procurement, Construction, and Improvements (emergency, P.L. 115-123) |
33,052 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Total Discretionary Funding |
7,139,831 |
8,291, |
7,210,273 |
7,403,510 7,587,712 |
|
Fees, Mandatory Spending, and Trust Funds |
376,610 |
525,600 |
318,000 |
318,000 |
318,000 |
Total Budgetary Resources |
7,516,441 |
8, |
7,528,273 |
7,721,510 7,905,712 |
|
Transportation Security Administration |
|||||
Operations and Support |
7,207,851 |
7,075,950 |
7,302,455 |
7,167,778 |
7,410,079 |
Procurement, Construction, and Improvements |
167,314 |
139,629 |
189,629 |
129,789 |
169,789 |
Research and Development |
20,190 |
20,594 |
20,594 |
20,594 |
20,594 |
Total Annual Discretionary Appropriations |
7,395,355 |
7,236,173 |
7,512,678 |
7,318,161 |
7,600,462 |
Offsetting Collections (Operations and Support) |
2,470,000 |
3,190,000 |
2,670,000 |
2,670,000 |
2,670,000 |
Total Net Discretionary Appropriations |
4,925,355 |
4,046,173 |
4,842,678 |
4,648,161 |
4,930,462 |
FY2018 Supplemental Appropriations |
|||||
Operations and Support (emergency, P.L. 115-123) |
10,322 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Total Net Discretionary Funding |
4,935,677 |
4,046,173 |
4,842,678 |
4,648,161 |
4,930,462 |
Fees, Mandatory Spending, and Trust Funds |
490,559 |
489,855 |
489,855 |
489,855 |
489,855 |
Total Budgetary Resources |
7,896,236 |
7,726,058 |
8,002,563 |
7,808,016 |
8,090,317 |
U.S. Coast Guard |
|||||
Operations and Support |
7,488,188 |
7,593,138 |
7,792,409 |
7,620,209 7,808,201 |
|
Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) Adjustment—included in Operations and Support |
163,000 |
0 |
165,000 |
0 |
165,000 |
Environmental Compliance and Restoration |
13,397 |
* |
13,429 |
13,429 |
*e
|
Procurement, Construction, and Improvements |
2,694,745 |
1,886,750 |
2,169,260 |
1,429,750 |
2,248,260 |
Transfer from Science and Technology Directorate Unobligated Balances |
0 |
0 |
0 |
95,000 0 |
|
Research and Development |
29,141 |
19,109 |
20,109 |
19,109 |
20,256 |
Health Care Fund Contribution (Permanent Indefinite Discretionary) |
204,136 |
199,360 |
199,360 |
199,360 |
199,360 |
Coast Guard Continuation of Pay (Administrative Provision) |
2,000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
House Full Committee Amendment |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1,000 |
0 |
Total Discretionary Appropriations (does not include OCO or transfers) |
10,268,607 |
9,698,357 |
10,194,567 |
9,282,857 10,111,077 |
|
FY2018 Supplemental Appropriations |
|||||
Operating Expenses |
112,136 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Environmental Compliance and Restoration |
4,038 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Acquisition, Construction, and Improvements |
718,919 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Total Discretionary Funding (includes emergency and OCO, but not transfers) |
11,266,700 |
9,698,357 |
10,194,567 |
9,282,857 10,276,077 |
|
Fees, Mandatory Spending, and Trust Funds |
1,676,117 |
1,739,844 |
1,739,844 |
1,739,844 |
1,739,844 |
Total Budgetary Resources |
12,942,817 |
11,438,201 |
11,934,411 |
11,117,701 12,015,921 |
|
U.S. Secret Service |
|||||
Operations and Support |
1,915,794 |
2,084,308 |
2,093,684 |
2,099,870 |
2,148,528 |
Procurement, Construction, and Improvements |
90,480 |
64,816 |
83,531 |
64,816 97,131 |
|
Research and Development |
250 |
2,500 |
2,500 |
2,500 2,500 |
|
Total Discretionary Appropriations |
2,006,524 |
2,151,624 |
2,179,715 |
2,167,186 |
2,248,159 |
Total Discretionary Funding |
2,006,524 |
2,151,624 |
2,179,715 |
2,167,186 |
2,248,159 |
Fees, Mandatory Spending, and Trust Funds |
265,000 |
265,000 |
265,000 |
265,000 |
265,000 |
Total Budgetary Resources |
2,271,524 |
2,416,624 |
2,444,715 |
2,432,186 |
2,513,159 |
Total Net Discretionary Appropriations: Title II |
38,291,882 |
38,412, |
38,518,627 |
41,277,971 39,836,958 |
|
Total Net Discretionary Funding: Title II Components (All Sources) |
39,513,748 |
38,412, |
38,683,627 |
41,277,971 40,001,958 |
|
Projected Total Gross Budgetary Resources: Title II Components |
47,131,706 |
47,077, |
46,464,058 |
49,192,855 47,821,359 |
Sources: CRS analysis of the DHS FY2019 Budget-in-Brief, P.L. 115-141 and its explanatory statement as printed in the Congressional Record of March 22, 2018, pp. H2544- H2608, S.Rept. 115-283, H.Rept. 115-948, and H.Rept. 115-948116-9.
Notes: Appropriation subtotal lines are shaded, numbers in italics do not contribute separately to appropriation subtotals, numbers in bold represent appropriations plus emergency, disaster relief, and overseas contingency operations-designated funding, numbers in bold italics represent totals of all funding tracked in appropriations committee tables. Fee revenues included in the "Fees, Mandatory Spending, and Trust Funds" lines are projections, and do not include budget authority provided through general provisions.
a. The detail table in the Senate Appropriations Committee report indicated a $474,000 smaller Operations and Support request for CBP, reflected in the Custody Operations and Office of the Principal Legal Advisor sub-PPAs. The table in this report reflects the number in the detail table in the explanatory statement. b. FY2019 was the first year that appropriations were requested for the USCG in the Common Appropriations Structure (CAS). This table shows FY2018 annual appropriations redistributed into the CAS.
bc. In the FY2019 budget request this appropriation incorporates the former Operating Expenses, Reserve Training, and Environmental Compliance and Restoration appropriations. In the committee-reported bills, Environmental Compliance and Restoration was maintained as a separate appropriation. The Tabletable reflects the committee-reported structure.
cd. $165,000,000 was requested by the Trump Administration for the Coast Guard from the Navy's OCO Operations and Maintenance appropriation (see pp. 359-366 of Department of the Navy Fiscal Year 2019 Budget Estimates, Justification of Estimates, February 2018, Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) Request, at http://www.secnav.navy.mil/fmc/fmb/Documents/19pres/OCO_BOOK.pdf).
de. $13,429,000 for Environmental Compliance and Restoration was included as part of the Trump Administration's FY2019 request for USCG Operations and Support. After a change was made in the FY2019 USCG authorization, P.L. 116-6 included the requested structure.
f.
e. An amendment adopted in House Appropriations Committee markup provided for $95 million to be transferred from unobligated balances of the Science and Technology Directorate for initial acquisition costs of buying an eleventh11th National Security Cutter for the Coast Guard.
Title III, Protection, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery, contains appropriations for the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD),Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA),20 the Office of Health Affairs (OHA), and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). It is the second largest of the component-specific titles.
For FY2018, these components received $7.22 billion in net discretionary appropriations and $7.37 billion in specially designated funding for disaster relief through the annual appropriations process. In addition to that annual funding, $58.23 billion was provided for FEMA in emergency supplemental appropriations in FY2018. Incorporating all these elements, the total net discretionary funding level for all Title III components was $72.61 billion for FY2018.
Table 3. Budgetary Resources for Protection, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Components, FY2018 and FY2019
(budget authority in thousands of dollars)
FY2018 |
FY2019 |
|||||||
Component |
Enacted |
Request |
Senate Committee-Reported S. 3109 |
House Committee-Reported H.R. 6776 |
Enacted P.L. 116-6 |
|||
National Protection and Programs Directorate |
|
|
|
|
||||
Operations and Support |
1,482,165 |
1,470,340 |
1,568,718 |
1,550,112 |
1,345,802 |
|||
Procurement, Construction, and Improvements |
414,111 |
302,964 |
369,778 |
367,964 322,829 |
||||
Research and Development |
15,126 |
47,847 |
11,126 |
16,486 13,126 |
||||
Federal Protective Service |
1,476,055 |
1,527,110 |
1,527,110 |
1,527,110 1,527,110 |
||||
Total Discretionary Appropriations |
3,387,457 |
3,348,261 |
3,476,732 |
3,461,672 3,208,867 |
||||
Offsetting Collections (Federal Protective Service) |
1,476,055 |
1,527,110 |
1,527,110 |
1,527,110 1,527,110 |
||||
Total Net Discretionary Appropriations |
1,911,402 |
1,821,151 |
1,949,622 |
1,934,562 1,681,757 |
||||
Total Discretionary Funding |
1,911,402 |
1,821,151 |
1,949,622 |
1,934,562 1,681,757 |
||||
Total Budgetary Resources |
3,387,457 |
3,348,261 |
3,476,732 |
3,461,672 3,208,867 |
||||
Office of Health Affairsa |
||||||||
Operations and Support |
121,569 |
0 |
121,569 |
0 |
0 |
|||
Total Discretionary Appropriations |
121,569 |
0 |
121,569 |
0 |
0 |
|||
Total Discretionary Funding |
121,569 |
0 |
121,569 |
0 |
0 |
|||
Total Budgetary Resources |
121,569 |
0 |
121,569 |
0 |
0 |
|||
Federal Emergency Management Agency |
||||||||
Operations and Support |
1,030,135 |
1,036,282 |
1,054,838 |
1,057,599 1,066,258 |
||||
Procurement, Construction, and Improvements |
85,276 |
103,349 |
128,349 |
103,349 133,830 |
||||
Federal Assistance |
3,293,932 |
2,644,733 |
3,272,939 |
3,356,525 3,094,210 |
||||
Disaster Relief Fundb |
7,900,720 |
7,234,000 |
7,234,000 |
7,210,000 |
12,558,000 |
|||
Disaster relief designation |
7,366,000 |
6,652,000 |
6,652,000 |
6,652,000 12,000,000 |
||||
DRF base funding |
534,720 |
582,000 |
582,000 |
558,000 |
558,000 |
|||
Transfer to DHS Office of Inspector General |
0 |
24,000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|||
Subtotal: Net disaster relief funding |
7,900,720 |
7,210,000 |
7,234,000 |
7,210,000 |
12,558,000 |
|||
National Flood Insurance Fund (NFIF) |
203,500 |
201,691 |
201,691 |
201,691 202,153 |
||||
Disaster Assistance Direct Loan Program |
0 |
3,000 |
3,000 |
0c |
0c
||||
Radiological Emergency Preparedness Program (Administrative Provisions) |
-1,024 |
-665 |
-665 |
-665 |
-665 |
|||
Title III Discretionary Appropriations (does not include transfers, emergency or disaster relief-designated funding) |
5,146,539 |
4,570,390 |
5,242,152 |
5,276,499 |
5,053,786 |
|||
Presidential Residence Protection (Title V) |
41,000 |
0 |
0 |
41,000 |
41,000 |
|||
Total Annual Discretionary Appropriations |
5,187,539 |
4,570,390 |
5,242,152 |
5,317,499 |
5,094,786 |
|||
Appropriations drawn from DRF unobligated balances (Federal Assistance) |
0 |
0 |
228,000 |
0 |
300,000 |
|||
Offsetting Collections (NFIF) |
203,500 |
201,691 |
201,691 |
201,691 202,153 |
||||
Total Annual Net Discretionary Appropriations |
4,984,039 |
4,368,699 |
4,812,461 |
5,115,808 |
4,592,633 |
|||
FY2018 Supplemental Appropriations |
||||||||
Operations and Support (emergency, P.L. 115-123) |
58,800 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|||
Procurement, Construction, and Improvements (emergency, P.L. 115-123) |
1,200 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|||
Disaster Relief Fund (emergency, P.L. 115-56 (FY2017), P.L. 115-72, P.L. 115-123) |
42,170,000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|||
National Flood Insurance Fund (emergency, P.L. 115-72) |
16,000,000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|||
Total Discretionary Funding (includes emergency and disaster relief-designated funding) |
70,580,039 |
11,020,699 |
11,464,461 |
11,767,808 |
16,592,633 |
|||
Fees, Mandatory Spending, and Trust Funds |
4,779,036 |
4,484,683 |
4,484,683 |
4,484,683 4,484,683 |
||||
Total Budgetary Resources |
75,562,575 |
15,481,382 |
15,949,144 |
16,252,491 21,077,316 |
||||
Total Net Discretionary Appropriations: Title III |
7,179,510 |
6,189,850 |
6,883,652 |
7,050,370 6,274,390 |
||||
Total Discretionary Funding: Title III Components (All Sources) |
72,613,010 |
12,841,850 |
13,535,652 |
13,702,370 18,274,390 |
||||
Projected Total Gross Budgetary Resources: Title III Components |
79,071,601 |
18,829,643 |
19,547,445 |
19,714,163 24,286,183 |
Sources: CRS analysis of the DHS FY2019 Budget-in-Brief, P.L. 115-141 and its explanatory statement as printed in the Congressional Record of March 22, 2018, pp. H2544-H2608, S.Rept. 115-283, , and H.Rept. 115-948, and H.Rept. 116-9.
Notes: Appropriation subtotal lines are shaded, numbers in [brackets] are subtotals presented for convenience of the reader, numbers in italics do not contribute separately to appropriation subtotals, numbers in bold represent appropriations plus emergency, disaster relief, and overseas contingency operations-designated funding, numbers in bold italics represent totals of all funding tracked in appropriations committee tables. Fee revenues included in the "Fees, Mandatory Spending, and Trust Funds" lines are projections, and do not include budget authority provided through general provisions.
a. The Administration proposed reorganizing the Office of Health Affairs (OHA) and Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) into the Office of Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (OCWMDCWMD). The Senate Appropriations Committee did not object to the restructuring, but continued to present OHA appropriations in the old structure, as the authorizing committees had not ratified the move. The House Appropriations Committee funded the OCWMD in the structure requested, as did P.L. 116-6.
b. This line is a subtotal of the "Base" line and the "Major Disasters" line (also known as the disaster relief adjustment)—it represents the total resources provided to the DRF. Amounts covered by the disaster relief adjustment (or other adjustments, such as those for emergency requirements or overseas contingency operations) are not included in appropriations totals, but are included in discretionary funding and other budget authority totals, per appropriations committee practice.
c. H.R. 6776 would provide and P.L. 116-6 included $3 million for these purposes as a transfer from the DRF.
Title IV, Research and Development, Training, and Services, the second smallest of the component-specific titles, contains appropriations for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), the Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), and the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO). In FY2018, these components received $1.57 billion in net discretionary funding, as part of a projected total budget of $5.92 billion. This included $10 million in supplemental appropriations for FLETC.
Table 4. Budgetary Resources for Research and Development, Training, and Services Components, FY2018 and FY2019
(budget authority in thousands of dollars)
FY2018 |
FY2019 |
||||||||||
Component/Appropriation |
Enacted |
Request |
Senate Committee-Reported S. 3109 |
House Committee-Reported H.R. 6776 |
Enacted P.L. 116-6 |
||||||
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services |
|||||||||||
Operations and Support |
108,856 |
109,081 |
109,081 |
109,081 |
109,688 |
||||||
Procurement, Construction, and Improvements |
22,657 |
22,838 |
22,838 |
22,838 |
22,838 |
Federal Assistance |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
10,000 |
Immigration Authorization Extensions (Administrative Provision) |
1,000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||||||
Total Annual Discretionary Appropriations |
132,513 |
131,919 |
131,919 |
131,919 |
142,526 |
||||||
Total Discretionary Funding |
132,513 |
131,919 |
131,919 |
131,919 |
142,526 |
||||||
Fees, Mandatory Spending, and Trust Funds |
4,350,526 |
4,587,651 |
4,587,651 |
4,587,651 |
4,587,651 |
||||||
Total Budgetary Resources |
4,483,039 |
4,719,570 |
4,719,570 |
4,719,570 |
4,730,177 |
||||||
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center |
|||||||||||
Operations and Support |
254,000 |
296,557 |
275,666 |
254,774 |
277,876 |
||||||
Procurement, Construction, and Improvements |
0 |
85,577 |
85,577 |
0 |
50,943 |
||||||
Total Annual Discretionary Appropriations |
254,000 |
382,134 |
361,243 |
254,774 |
328,819 |
||||||
FY2018 Supplemental Appropriations |
|||||||||||
Operations and Support (emergency, P.L. 115-141) |
5,374 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||||||
Procurement, Construction, and Improvements (emergency, P.L. 115-141) |
5,000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||||||
Total Discretionary Funding |
264,374 |
382,134 |
361,243 |
254,774 |
328,819 |
||||||
Total Budgetary Resources |
264,374 |
382,134 |
361,243 |
254,774 |
328,819 |
||||||
Science and Technology |
|||||||||||
Operations and Support |
331,113 |
271,803 |
308,520 |
304,408 |
308,520 |
||||||
Research and Development |
509,830 |
311,480 |
504,596 |
497,751 511,265 |
|||||||
Total Discretionary Appropriations |
840,943 |
583,283 |
813,116 |
802,159 |
819,785 |
||||||
Total Discretionary Funding |
840,943 |
583,283 |
813,116 |
802,159 |
819,785 |
||||||
Total Budgetary Resources |
840,943 |
583,283 |
813,116 |
802,159 |
819,785 |
||||||
Domestic Nuclear Detection Officea |
|||||||||||
Operations and Support |
54,664 |
0 |
54,664 |
0 |
0 |
||||||
Procurement, Construction, and Improvements |
89,096 |
0 |
89,096 |
0 |
0 |
||||||
Research and Development |
145,661 |
0 |
145,661 |
0 |
0 |
||||||
Federal Assistance |
46,019 |
0 |
46,019 |
0 |
0 |
||||||
Total Discretionary Appropriations |
335,440 |
0 |
335,440 |
0 |
0 |
||||||
Total Discretionary Funding |
335,440 |
0 |
335,440 |
0 |
0 |
||||||
Total Budgetary Resources |
335,440 |
0 |
335,440 |
0 |
0 |
||||||
Office of Countering Weapons of Mass Destructiona |
|||||||||||
Operations and Support |
0 |
209,264 |
0 |
214,264 |
187,095 |
||||||
Procurement, Construction, and Improvements |
0 |
74,896 |
0 |
74,896 |
100,096 |
||||||
Research and Development |
0 |
80,443 |
0 |
80,443 |
83,043 |
||||||
Federal Assistance |
0 |
64,663 b |
0 |
64,663 |
64,663 |
||||||
Total Discretionary Appropriations |
0 |
429,266 |
0 |
434,266 |
434,897 |
||||||
Total Discretionary Funding |
0 |
429,266 |
0 |
434,266 |
434,897 |
||||||
Total Budgetary Resources |
0 |
429,266 |
0 |
434,266 |
434,897 |
||||||
Total Net Discretionary Appropriations: Title IV |
1,562,896 |
1,526,602 |
1,641,718 |
1,623,118 |
1,726,027 |
||||||
Total Discretionary Funding: Title IV Components (All Sources) |
1,573,270 |
1,526,602 |
1,641,718 |
1,623,118 |
1,726,027 |
||||||
Projected Total Gross Budgetary Resources for Title IV Components |
5,923,796 |
6,114,253 |
6,114,253 |
6,210,769 |
6,313,678 |
Source: CRS analysis of the DHS FY2019 Budget-in-Brief, P.L. 115-141 and its explanatory statement as printed in the Congressional Record of March 22, 2018, pp. H2544-H2608, S.Rept. 115-283, H.Rept. 115-948, and H.Rept. 115-948116-9.
Notes: Appropriation subtotal lines are shaded, numbers in italics do not contribute separately to appropriation subtotals, numbers in bold represent appropriations plus emergency, disaster relief, and overseas contingency operations-designated funding, numbers in bold italics represent totals of all funding tracked in appropriations committee tables. Fee revenues included in the "Fees, Mandatory Spending, and Trust Funds" lines are projections.
a. The Administration proposed reorganizing the Office of Health Affairs (OHA) and Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) into the Office of Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (OCWMDCWMD). The Senate Appropriations Committee did not object to the restructuring, but continued to present OHA appropriations in the old structure, as the authorizing committees had not ratified the move. The House Appropriations Committee funded the OCWMD in the structure requested.
As noted above, the fifth title of the FY2019 DHS appropriations act contains general provisions, the impact of which may reach across the entire department, affect multiple components, or focus on a single activity. Rescissions of prior-year appropriations—cancellations of budget authority that reduce the net funding level in the bill—are found in this title.1922
For FY2018, Division F of P.L. 115-141 included $489 million in rescissions. For FY2019, the Administration proposed rescinding $300 million in prior-year funding from the DRF. S. 3109 included $137 million in rescissions from other appropriations, but specifically directed the $300 million the Administration had proposed rescinding from the DRF to other activities within DHS. H.R. 6776 did not include any rescissions, although an amendment from Representative Palazzo was passed in full committee markup on a voice vote redirecting unobligated balances from the Science and Technology Directorate to the Coast Guard.
Division A of P.L. 116-6 included $303 million in rescissions, and a provision directing that $300 million of DRF unobligated balances be used to offset new DRF appropriations.In FY2018, funding was also included in Title V for the Financial Systems Modernization initiative and a grant program for Presidential Residence Protection costs, which are reflected in the tables for Title I and Title III, respectively, as those titles fund the components that manage these resources. For FY2019, Title V of S. 3109 only funded the Financial Systems Modernization initiative, and Title V of H.R. 6776 only funded Presidential Residence Protection costs.
The detail table in the back of H.Rept. 115-948 also notes the discretionary cost of several policy changes in H.R. 6776. . Four amendments adopted in House Appropriations Committee markup resulted in a net $13 million increase in the score of the bill, which is reflected in the detail table, but not in the tables of this report.
For additional perspectives on FY2019 DHS appropriations, see the following:
Congressional clients also may wish to consult CRS's experts directly. The following table lists CRS analysts and specialists who contribute to CRShave expertise in policy areas linked to DHS appropriations reports.
Component/Issue Area |
Name |
Background Report |
||||||||||
DHS Annual and Supplemental Appropriations, Overall |
William Painter |
|||||||||||
Departmental Management, Personnel Issues |
[author name scrubbed] |
CRS |
||||||||||
DHS Headquarters Consolidation |
William Painter |
CRS Report R42753, DHS Headquarters Consolidation Project: Issues for Congress |
||||||||||
Analysis and Operations |
William Painter (acting) |
|||||||||||
Office of the Inspector General |
[author name scrubbed] |
CRS Report R43814, Federal Inspectors General: History, Characteristics, and Recent Congressional Actions |
||||||||||
U.S. Customs and Border Protection |
[author name scrubbed] |
CRS Report R42138, Border Security: Immigration Enforcement Between Ports of Entry |
||||||||||
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement |
[author name scrubbed] |
CRS Report R44627, Interior Immigration Enforcement: Criminal Alien Programs |
||||||||||
Transportation Security Administration |
[author name scrubbed] |
CRS Report R45082, Security of Air Cargo Shipments, Operations, and Facilities; and CRS Report |
||||||||||
U.S. Coast Guard |
[author name scrubbed] |
CRS Report R44566, The Coast Guard's Role in Safeguarding Maritime Transportation: Selected Issues |
||||||||||
U.S. Secret Service |
[author name scrubbed] |
CRS Report RL34603, The U.S. Secret Service: History and Missions |
||||||||||
National Protection and Programs Directorate |
||||||||||||
Cybersecurity |
[author name scrubbed] |
CRS In Focus IF10683, DHS's Cybersecurity Mission—An Overview |
||||||||||
Infrastructure Protection |
[author name scrubbed] |
|||||||||||
Federal Protective Service |
[author name scrubbed] |
CRS Report R43570, Federal Building and Facility Security: Frequently Asked Questions |
||||||||||
Office of Health Affairs | [author name scrubbed]
|
Disaster Response Elizabeth Webster |
CRS Report | |||||||||
Federal Emergency Management Agency |
||||||||||||
Operations and Mitigation |
[author name scrubbed] |
CRS Report R41981, Congressional Primer on Responding to Major Disasters and Emergencies
|
Disaster Relief Fund
|
William L. Painter
|
CRS Report R45484, The Disaster Relief Fund: Overview and Issues
|
Mitigation Programs
|
Diane P. Horn
|
Stafford Act Individual Assistance Program
|
Elizabeth Webster
|
CRS Insight IN11054, Disaster Housing Assistance: Homeland Security Issues in the 116th Congress
|
Stafford Act Public Assistance Program
|
Natalie Keegan CRS Report R43990, FEMA's Public Assistance Grant Program: Background and Considerations for Congress |
Preparedness Grants |
[author name scrubbed] |
CRS Report R44669, Department of Homeland Security Preparedness Grants: A Summary and Issues |
||||||||||
Firefighter Assistance Grants |
[author name scrubbed] |
CRS Report RL32341, Assistance to Firefighters Program: Distribution of Fire Grant Funding; and CRS Report RL33375, Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response: The SAFER Grant Program |
||||||||||
Disaster Relief Fund |
[author name scrubbed] |
|||||||||||
Disaster Declarations |
[author name scrubbed] |
CRS Report R42702, Stafford Act Declarations 1953-2016: Trends, Analyses, and Implications for Congress |
||||||||||
National Flood Insurance Program |
[author name scrubbed] |
CRS Report R44593, Introduction to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) |
||||||||||
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services |
[author name scrubbed] |
CRS Report R44038, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Functions and Funding |
||||||||||
Science and Technology |
[author name scrubbed] |
CRS Report R44786, Science and Technology Issues in the 115th Congress |
||||||||||
|
[author name scrubbed] |
CRS Report R44786, Science and Technology Issues in the 115th Congress |
Budget Authority, Obligations, and Outlays
Federal government spending involves a multistep process that begins with the enactment of budget authority by Congress. Federal agencies then obligate funds from enacted budget authority to pay for their activities. Finally, payments are made to liquidate those obligations; the actual payment amounts are reflected in the budget as outlays.
Budget authority is established through appropriations acts or direct spending legislation and determines the amounts that are available for federal agencies to spend. The Antideficiency Act2024 prohibits federal agencies from obligating more funds than the budget authority enacted by Congress. Budget authority also may be indefinite in amount, as when Congress enacts language providing "such sums as may be necessary" to complete a project or purpose. Budget authority may be available on a one-year, multiyear, or no-year basis. One-year budget authority is available for obligation only during a specific fiscal year; any unobligated funds at the end of that year are no longer available for spending. Multiyear budget authority specifies a range of time during which funds may be obligated for spending, and no-year budget authority is available for obligation for an indefinite period of time.
Obligations are incurred when federal agencies employ personnel, enter into contracts, receive services, and engage in similar transactions in a given fiscal year—which create a legal requirement for the government to pay. Outlays are the funds that are actually spent during the fiscal year.2125 Because multiyear and no-year budget authorities may be obligated over a number of years, outlays do not always match the budget authority enacted in a given year. Additionally, budget authority may be obligated in one fiscal year but spent in a future fiscal year, especially with certain contracts.
In sum, budget authority allows federal agencies to incur obligations and authorizes payments, or outlays, to be made from the Treasury. Discretionary funded agencies and programs, and appropriated entitlement programs, are funded each year in appropriations acts.
Discretionary and Mandatory Spending
Gross budget authority, or the total funds available for spending by a federal agency, may be composed of discretionary and mandatory spending. Discretionary spending is not mandated by existing law and is thus appropriated yearly by Congress through appropriations acts. The Budget Enforcement Act of 19902226 defines discretionary appropriations as budget authority provided in annual appropriations acts and the outlays derived from that authority, but it excludes appropriations for entitlements. Mandatory spending, also known as direct spending, consists of budget authority and resulting outlays provided in laws other than appropriations acts and is typically not appropriated each year. Some mandatory entitlement programs, however, must be appropriated each year and are included in appropriations acts. Within DHS, Coast Guard retirement pay is an example of appropriated mandatory spending.
Offsetting Collections23
Offsetting funds are collected by the federal government, either from government accounts or the public, as part of a business-type transaction such as collection of a fee. These funds are not considered federal revenue. Instead, they are counted as negative outlays. DHS net discretionary budget authority, or the total funds appropriated by Congress each year, is composed of discretionary spending minus any fee or fund collections that offset discretionary spending.
Some collections offset a portion of an agency's discretionary budget authority. Other collections offset an agency's mandatory spending. These mandatory spending elements are typically entitlement programs under which individuals, businesses, or units of government that meet the requirements or qualifications established by law are entitled to receive certain payments if they establish eligibility. The DHS budget features two mandatory entitlement programs: the Secret Service and the Coast Guard retired pay accounts (pensions). Some entitlements are funded by permanent appropriations, and others are funded by annual appropriations. Secret Service retirement pay is a permanent appropriation and, as such, is not annually appropriated. In contrast, Coast Guard retirement pay is annually appropriated. In addition to these entitlements, the DHS budget contains offsetting Trust and Public Enterprise Funds. These funds are not appropriated by Congress. They are available for obligation and included in the President's budget to calculate the gross budget authority.
302(a) and 302(b) Allocations
In general practice, the maximum budget authority for annual appropriations (including DHS) is determined through a two-stage congressional budget process. In the first stage, Congress sets overall spending totals in the annual concurrent resolution on the budget. Subsequently, these totals are allocated among the appropriations committees, usually through the statement of managers for the conference report on the budget resolution. These amounts are known as the 302(a) allocations. They include discretionary totals available to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations for enactment in annual appropriations bills through the subcommittees responsible for the development of the bills.
In the second stage of the process, the appropriations committees allocate the 302(a) discretionary funds among their subcommittees for each of the appropriations bills. These amounts are known as the 302(b) allocations. These allocations must add up to no more than the 302(a) discretionary allocation and form the basis for enforcing budget discipline, since any bill reported with a total above the ceiling is subject to a point of order. The 302(b) allocations may be adjusted during the year by the respective Appropriations Committeeappropriations committee issuing a report delineating the revised suballocations as the various appropriations bills progress toward final enactment. No subcommittee allocations are developed for conference reports or enacted appropriations bills.
Table A-1 shows comparable figures for the 302(b) allocation for FY2018, based on the adjusted net discretionary budget authority included in Division F of P.L. 115-141, the President's request for FY2019, and the House and Senate subcommittee allocations for the Homeland Security appropriations bills for FY2019.
Table A-1. FY2017 and FY2018FY2018 and FY2019 302(b) Discretionary Allocations for DHS
(budget authority in billions of dollars)
FY2018 Comparable |
FY2019 Request Comparable |
FY2019 House Allocation |
FY2019 Senate Allocation |
FY2019 Enacted Comparable |
47.723 |
41.194 |
51.435 |
48.334 |
n/a |
Sources: CRS analysis of S.S. Rept. 115-340 Further Revised Allocation to Subcommittees of Budget Totals for Fiscal Year 2019, and H.Rept. 115-779, Revised Suballocation of Budget Allocations for Fiscal Year 2019, and H.Rept. 116-9.
Notes: These allocations do not include funding designated as an emergency requirement, designated as being for overseas contingency operations, or designated as being for the costs of major disasters under the Stafford Act ("disaster relief").
The Budget Control Act, Discretionary Spending Caps, and Adjustments
The Budget Control Act established enforceable discretionary limits, or caps, for defense and nondefense spending for each fiscal year from FY2012 through FY2021. Subsequent legislation, including the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013,2428 amended those caps. Most of the budget for DHS is considered nondefense spending.2529
In addition, the Budget Control Act allows for adjustments that would raise the statutory caps to cover funding for overseas contingency operations/Global War on Terror, emergency spending, and, to a limited extent, disaster relief and appropriations for continuing disability reviews and control of health care fraud and abuse.
Three of the four justifications outlined in the Budget Control Act for adjusting the caps on discretionary budget authority have played a role in DHS's appropriations process. Two of these—emergency spending and overseas contingency operations/Global War on Terror—are not limited.
The third justification—disaster relief—is limited. Under the Budget Control Act, the allowable adjustment for disaster relief was determined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), using the following formula until FY2019:
Limit on disaster relief cap adjustment for the fiscal year = Rolling average of the disaster relief spending over the last ten fiscal years (throwing out the high and low years) + the unused amount of the potential adjustment for disaster relief from the previous fiscal year.
The disaster relief allowable adjustment for FY2018 was $7.366 billion, and was used to support appropriations to FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund (DRF).26
The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 amended the above formula, increasing the allowable size of the adjustment by adding 5% of the amount of emergency-designated funding for major disasters under the Stafford Act, calculated by OMB as $6.296 billion.2730 The act also extended the availability of unused adjustment capacity. In August 2018, OMB released a sequestration update report for FY2019 that reported that pursuant to the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, OMB had recalculated the allowable adjustment for FY2018 using this modified formula, increasing the size of the allowable adjustment for FY2018 to $9.221 billion.28 It also provided a preview estimate of the allowable adjustment for FY2019 of $14.965 billion—the second largest allowable adjustment for disaster relief in the history of the mechanism.29
Author Contact Information
Author Contact Information
William L. Painter, Specialist in Homeland Security and Appropriations ([email address scrubbed], [phone number scrubbed])1. |
U.S. Government Accountability Office, A Glossary of Terms Used in the Federal Budget Process, GAO-05-734SP, September 1, 2005, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-05-734SP. |
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2. |
For example, the FY2019 request envisions an appropriations bill that includes discretionary appropriations—budget authority that is provided to the department through appropriations acts; appropriations that are offset by agency collections, such as user fees, resulting in no net effect on the budget; funding that is not subject to the discretionary spending limits due to special designation; transfers of appropriated budget authority between components; appropriations that are considered to be mandatory spending; and rescissions—cancellation of budget authority that otherwise would be available for obligation and thus offsets other spending charged to the bill. Also credited to the discretionary spending in the bill are two elements of "permanent indefinite discretionary spending" that are not included in the actual appropriations bill but are included in the discretionary spending total of the bill because of scorekeeping practices. For a discussion these mechanisms, see the Appendix. |
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3. |
For a discussion of allocations of discretionary budget authority, see the Appendix. |
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4. |
This definition is drawn from the term's usage in the detail tables provided in multiple House Appropriations Committee reports, conference reports, and explanatory statements. It should be noted that this term has also been used as shorthand for the adjusted net discretionary budget authority in some appropriations committee communications. See https://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/03.21.18_fy18_omnibus_-_homeland_security_-_summary.pdf for an example. |
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5. |
The explanatory statement is available in the Congressional Record of March 22, 2018, pp. H2544-H2608. |
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6. |
In addition, as FY2018 annual appropriations had yet to be enacted, the request did not include a comparison of the Administration's proposal to an enacted level for the current fiscal year. |
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7. |
Information on this OCO funding are provided only for reference: annual appropriations provided in other annual appropriations bills for DHS functions is not tracked in the totals or tables for this report. |
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8. |
Sections 125-128 of division C provide special accommodations for disaster relief and recovery activities, operations of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, maintenance of staffing levels at certain components, purchase of armored vehicles for the Secret Service, and management of activities formerly funded through the DHS Working Capital Fund. |
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9. |
P.L. 116-6.
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Generally speaking, those provided through annual legislation. For more detail, see the text box above and the Appendix. |
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These items, which qualify for special designation under the Budget Control Act, provide discretionary budget authority to DHS components but are not included in the "appropriations" total for the bill at the end of the detail tables in the committee reports. |
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Although the House and Senate have generally produced symmetrically structured bills in the past, additional titles are sometimes added by one of the chambers to address special issues. For example, the FY2012 House full committee markup added a sixth title to carry a $1 billion emergency appropriation for the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF). The Senate version carried no additional titles beyond the five described above. For FY2017, the House and Senate committee bills took different approaches to restructuring appropriations and departmental functions, and ultimately, a sixth title was added to provide supplemental appropriations requested by the then-new Trump Administration. |
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The detail table at the end of the explanatory statement notes the budget authority provided by these provisions, as well as budget authority that scorekeeping rules mandate be included in the act's total spending. |
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Office of the Chief Financial Officer, A Common Appropriations Structure for DHS: FY2016 Crosswalk, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, February 2, 2015, p. 2. |
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The Management Directorate includes the Office of the Under Secretary for Management (USM), the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, and the Office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO). |
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This includes $2 million charged to the discretionary score of the bill for a policy provision regarding expenses of primary and secondary schooling for DHS employee dependents. (The provision was included in the House-passed bill as Division E, Section 530, but not in the Senate draft or enacted FY2018 annual appropriation.) |
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Other resources that contribute to the budget for these components include mandatory spending, fee revenues, and trust funds. CRS uses the Administration's formally documented budget request as scored by CBO as the basis of these comparisons. President Trump has made public comments referring to a $5 billion request in FY2019 for border barrier construction that he has reportedly made to lawmakers in direct discussions. |
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Letter from Russell T. Vought, Acting Director, Office of Management and Budget, to The Honorable Richard Shelby, Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriations, January 6, 2019, https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Final-Shelby-1-6-19.pdf. 20.
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CISA was formerly known as the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD). |
In addition to the appropriations provided in Title III, the appropriation for a FEMA grant program in Title V to help pay the costs of presidential protection, and the funding for disaster relief ($24 million of which was requested to be transferred to the OIG), roughly $1.73 billion is provided through offsetting collections to the Federal Protective Service and FEMA—but as it is funded through offsetting collections, it is not visible in the net discretionary appropriations total. Other resources that contribute to the budget for these components include mandatory spending, fee revenues, and trust funds, including the National Flood Insurance Fund. |
As noted elsewhere, general provisions also may provide funding. Incidences where this occurs in the act are reflected in Tables 1-4. |
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24.
§521 and §531, respectively. |
31 U.S.C. §§1341, 1342, 1344, 1511-1517. |
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Appropriations, outlays, and account balances for various appropriations accounts can be viewed in the end-of-year reports published by the U.S. Treasury titled Combined Statement of Receipts, Outlays, and Balances of the United States Government. The DHS portion of the report can be accessed at |
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P.L. 101-508, Title XIII. |
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Prepared with assistance from |
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Most of the defense spending in the DHS budget is in the budget for the National Protection and Programs Directorate. Other defense spending is also included in the budgets for the U.S. Coast Guard and Federal Emergency Management Agency. |
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26. |
Office of Management and Budget, OMB Final Sequestration Report to the President and Congress for Fiscal Year 2017, Washington, DC, May 19, 2017, pp. 7-8, https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/sequestration_reports/2017_final_sequestration_report_may_2017_potus.pdf. |
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Letter from Mick Mulvaney, Director, OMB, to the Honorable Patrick Leahy, Vice Chairman, Committee on Appropriations, |
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Executive Office of the President of the United States, OMB Sequestration Update Report to the President and Congress for Fiscal Year 2019, Washington, DC, August 20, 2018, p. 14, https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Sequestration_Update_August_2018_House.pdf. |
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Only the allowable adjustment for FY2015 was higher, at $18.430 billion. |