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Department of Homeland Security
Appropriations: FY2016
William L. Painter
Analyst in Emergency Management and Homeland Security Policy
May 26, 2015
Congressional Research Service
7-5700
www.crs.gov
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Department of Homeland Security Appropriations: FY2016
Summary
This report discusses the FY2016 appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
and provides an overview of the Administration’s FY2016 request. The report makes note of
many budgetary resources provided to DHS, but its primary focus is on funding approved by
Congress through the appropriations process. It also 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 and
additional details regarding specific component appropriations and issues engaged through the
FY2016 appropriations process.
The Administration requested $41.2 billion in adjusted net discretionary budget authority for
DHS for FY2016, as part of an overall budget of $64.8 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 $1.5 billion, or 3.8%, increase from the $39.7 billion enacted
for FY2015 through the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2015 (P.L. 114-4).
The Administration also requested an additional $6.7 billion not reflected above for the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in disaster relief funding, as defined by the Budget
Control Act (P.L. 112-25), and a $160 million transfer from the Navy to the Coast Guard for
overseas contingency operations (OCO) funding. Neither the disaster relief funding nor the OCO
funding is considered when calculating the total amount of adjusted net discretionary budget
authority, as neither counts against the discretionary spending limit.
This report will be updated throughout the FY2016 appropriations process. The current version of
the report uses budget numbers provided by the Administration. Once a detailed re-estimate of
those numbers by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is available, the numbers in this report
will be revised to reflect CBO’s calculations.
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Contents
Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 1
Note on Data and Citations ........................................................................................................ 1
Summary of DHS Appropriations ............................................................................................. 1
Homeland Security Appropriations ................................................................................................. 3
Departmental Management and Operations .............................................................................. 4
Security, Enforcement, and Investigations ................................................................................ 5
Protection, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery .................................................................. 7
Research and Development, Training, and Services ................................................................. 8
Crosscutting Issues for the Department of Homeland Security ................................................. 9
Federal Civilian Employee Pay Raise ................................................................................. 9
Discretionary Spending Limits ............................................................................................ 9
Expenditure and Investment Plans .................................................................................... 10
For Further Information ................................................................................................................. 11
Tables
Table 1. Budgetary Resources for Departmental Management and Operations,
FY2015 and FY2016 .................................................................................................................... 4
Table 2. Budgetary Resources for Security, Enforcement, and Investigations,
FY2015 and FY2016 .................................................................................................................... 5
Table 3. Budgetary Resources for Protection, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery,
FY2015 and FY2016 .................................................................................................................... 7
Table 4. Budgetary Resources for Research and Development, Training, and Services
FY2015 andFY2016 ..................................................................................................................... 8
Table 5. DHS Appropriations Experts ........................................................................................... 11
Table A-1. FY2015 and FY2016 302(b) Discretionary Allocations for DHS ................................ 15
Appendixes
Appendix. Appropriations Terms and Concepts ............................................................................ 13
Contacts
Author Contact Information........................................................................................................... 16
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Introduction
This report describes and analyzes annual appropriations for the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) for FY2016. It compares the President’s request for FY2016 funding for DHS to
the enacted FY2015 appropriations for DHS. This report identifies additional informational
resources, reports, and products on DHS appropriations that provide additional context for the
discussion, and it provides a list of CRS policy experts whom clients may consult with inquiries
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. The 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 authorization 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 (P.L. 112-25).
Note on Data and Citations
Except in summary discussions and when discussing total amounts for the bill as a whole, all
amounts contained in the suite of CRS reports on homeland security appropriations represent
budget authority and are rounded to the nearest million. However, for precision in percentages
and totals, all calculations were performed using unrounded data.
Data used in this report for FY2015 amounts are derived from the Department of Homeland
Security Appropriations Act, 2015 (P.L. 114-4) and the explanatory statement that accompanied
H.R. 240 as printed in the Congressional Record of January 13, 2015, pages H275-H322.
Contextual information on the FY2016 request is generally from the Budget of the United States
Government, Fiscal Year 2016, the FY2016 DHS congressional budget justifications, and the
FY2016 DHS Budget in Brief.1 Once detailed CBO re-estimates of the budget request are
available, this report will be updated to reflect CBO’s numbers to ensure consistent scoring
whenever possible.
Summary of DHS Appropriations
Generally, the homeland security appropriations bill includes all annual appropriations provided
for DHS, allocating resources to every departmental component. Discretionary appropriations2
provide roughly two-thirds to three-fourths of the annual funding for DHS operations, depending
1 On April 14, 2016, the Administration submitted technical amendments to its budget request, but it presented no
adjustments to its totals for the department. Therefore, modifications to authorization for Customs and Border
Protection to use certain fee revenues are not reflected in this report.
2 Generally speaking, those provided through annual legislation. For more detail, see the Appendix.
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how one accounts for disaster relief spending and funding for overseas contingency operations.
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.3 The first four
are thematic groupings of components:
• Title I, Departmental Management and Operations, the smallest of the first
four titles, contains appropriations for the Office of the Secretary and Executive
Management (OSEM), the Office of the Under Secretary for Management
(USM), the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, the Office of the Chief
Information Officer (CIO), Analysis and Operations (A&O), and the Office of the
Inspector General (OIG).
• The Administration requested $1,396 million for these activities in FY2016,
$255 million more than was provided for FY2015.
• Title II, Security, Enforcement, and Investigations, comprising roughly three-
quarters of the funding appropriated for the department, contains appropriations
for Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Coast
Guard (USCG), and the Secret Service.
• The Administration requested $32,393 million for these activities in FY2016,
$677 million more than was provided for FY2015.
• Title III, Protection, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery, the second-
largest of the first four titles, contains appropriations for the National Protection
and Programs Directorate (NPPD), the Office of Health Affairs (OHA), and the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
• The Administration requested $19,225 million for FY2016, $772 million
more than was provided for FY2015.
• Title IV, Research and Development, Training, and Services, the second-
smallest of the first four 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).
• The Administration requested $5,347 million for these activities, $455
million more than was provided for FY2015.
A fifth title contains general provisions, the impact of which may reach across the entire
department, impact 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 here. The Administration proposed rescinding $350 million in prior-year appropriations
as part of its FY2016 budget request.
3 Although the House and Senate generally produce symmetrically structured bills, this is not always the case.
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 FY2015, the House-
and Senate-reported versions of the DHS appropriations bill were generally symmetrical.
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Homeland Security Appropriations
The following tables present comparisons of FY2015 enacted and FY2016 requested
appropriations for the department by thematic grouping. References to titles refer to the
organization of the funding in the FY2015 appropriations cycle, not the Administration’s budget
request.
The first section of each table notes the appropriation provided under the headings of each
component in the appropriations measure. When components receive significant resources
through fees, trust funds, mandatory spending, or adjustments under the Budget Control Act,
those resources are noted beneath the total appropriation for the individual components. A second
section adds the economic effects of any general provisions, transfers, or other anomalies on the
resources provided in the appropriations measures. Two totals appear at the bottom of each table:
the first represents the total resources provided through the appropriations measure for the
components in the thematic grouping; the second represents the total budgetary resources
available to the component based on the first total and projections by the White House’s Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) of total agency resources available beyond those provided
through congressional appropriations.
DHS and “Adjusted” Net Discretionary Budget Authority
The annual DHS budget proposal includes a variety of funding mechanisms. For example, the FY2016 request
envisions an appropriations bill that includes
•
appropriations that are offset by agency collections, such as user fees;
•
funding that is effectively not subject to the discretionary spending limits due to special designation;
•
appropriations that are considered to be mandatory spending; and
•
appropriations that are contingent on certain things happening.4
The appropriations bill also may include rescissions—cancel ation of budget authority that otherwise would be available
for obligation and thus is treated as negative spending. 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.
These numbers can be totaled in several different ways to summarize what is in the bill. For DHS, net discretionary
budget authority includes all discretionary budget authority credited to the bill (thus excluding specially designated
funding and mandatory spending), net of offsets (including any offsetting col ections and fees).
In DHS budget documents, net discretionary budget authority does not take into account the impact of rescissions.
However, adjusted net discretionary budget authority does take rescissions into account. This is the total that counts
against discretionary spending limits, and it is the total used most commonly in debate on appropriations. To avoid
confusion when readers interpret DHS documents, CRS reporting on DHS appropriations uses the DHS terminology
to describe that total.
4 Projections of the budget authority provided by these provisions may vary between the Office of Management and
Budget and the Congressional Budget Office, but both include such appropriations in calculations of discretionary
budget authority.
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Departmental Management and Operations
Table 1. Budgetary Resources for Departmental Management and Operations,
FY2015 and FY2016
(budget authority in millions of dollars)
FY2015
FY2016
Component/Appropriation
Enacted Request
Title I
Office of the Secretary and Executive
133 134
Management
Office of the Under Secretary for
188 193
Management
Office of the Chief Financial Officer
52
97
Office of the Chief Information Officer
288
321
Analysis and Operations
256
269
Office of the Inspector Generala 119
142
Net Budget Authority: Title I
1,035
1,156
General Provisions and Other Resources in the Appropriations
Measure
DHS Headquarters Consolidation
49 216b
Financial Systems Modernization
34
c
Transfer to OIG from FEMA’s DRF
24
24
Total: Other Resources
107
240
Net Discretionary Budget Authority:
1,141 1,396
Departmental Management and
Operations
Total Gross Budgetary Resources
1,141
1,396
Source: CRS analysis of P.L. 114-4 and its explanatory statement as printed in the Congressional Record of
January 13, 2015, pp. H275-H322, and the FY2016 DHS Budget-in-Brief.
Notes: Table displays rounded numbers, but al operations were performed with unrounded data. Therefore,
amounts may not sum to totals. FEMA = Federal Emergency Management Agency; DRF = Disaster Relief Fund.
a. The DHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) also receives transfers from FEMA to pay for oversight of
disaster-related activities that are not reflected until the last line in these tables, including $24 million in
FY2015 and $24 million requested for FY2016.
b. This amount includes more than $11 million in support costs for the facility, which generally has been
appropriated in the Coast Guard’s Operating Expenses account.
c. The Administration requested funding for this activity under the Office of the Chief Financial Officer.
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Security, Enforcement, and Investigations
Table 2. Budgetary Resources for Security, Enforcement, and Investigations,
FY2015 and FY2016
(budget authority in millions of dollars)
FY2015
FY2016
Component/Appropriation
Enacted Request
Title II
Customs and Border Protection
Salaries and Expenses
8,460
9,070
Small Airport User Feea 9
9
Automation Modernization
808
867
Border Security Fencing, Infrastructure,
382 373
and Technology
Air and Marine Operations
750
747
Facilities Management
289
342
Appropriation 10,699
11,409
Fees, Mandatory Spending, and Trust Funds
1,884
1,977
Total Budgetary Resources
12,582
13,385
Immigration and Customs
Enforcement
Salaries and Expenses
5,933
5,881
Automation and Infrastructure
26 74
Modernization
Construction 0
5
Appropriation 5,959
5,960
Fees, Mandatory Spending, and Trust Funds
345
322
Total Budgetary Resources
6,304
6,282
Transportation Security
Administration
Aviation Security (net funding)
3,574
3,483
Surface Transportation Security
124
124
Intelligence and Vettingb (net funding)
219
228
Transportation Security Support
917
931
Appropriation 4,834
4,766
Fees, Mandatory Spending, and Trust Funds
2,395
2,581
Total Budgetary Resources
7,229
7,347
U.S. Coast Guard
Operating Expenses
6,830
6,822
Environmental Compliance and Restoration
13
13
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FY2015
FY2016
Component/Appropriation
Enacted Request
Reserve Training
115
111
Acquisition, Construction, and
1,225 1,017
Improvements
Research, Development, Testing, and
18 18
Evaluation
Health Care Fund Contributiona 177
159
Discretionary Appropriation
8,378
8,140
Fees, Mandatory Spending, and Trust Funds
1,664
1,824
Overseas Contingency Operations
213 0
Adjustmentc
Total Budgetary Resources
10,255
9,964
U.S. Secret Service
Salaries and Expenses
1,616
1,867
Acquisition, Construction, and
50 72
Improvements
Appropriation 1,666
1,939
Fees, Mandatory Spending, and Trust Funds
260
265
Total Budgetary Resources
1,926
2,204
Net Budget Authority: Title II
31,536
32,213
General Provisions and Other Resources in the Appropriations
Measure
COBRA FTA funding (CBP)
138
180
Total: Other Resources
138
180
Net Discretionary Budget Authority:
31,674 32,393
Security, Enforcement, and
Investigations
Total Gross Budgetary Resources
38,434
39,356
Source: CRS analysis of P.L. 114-4 and its explanatory statement as printed in the Congressional Record of
January 13, 2015, pp. H275-H322, and the FY2016 DHS Budget-in-Brief.
Notes: Table displays rounded numbers, but al operations were performed with unrounded data. Amounts,
therefore, may not sum to totals. Fee revenues included in the “Fees, Mandatory Spending, and Trust Funds”
lines are projections.
a. This item is considered permanent indefinite discretionary spending and, therefore, scores as being in the
bill, despite not being explicitly appropriated in the bills’ legislative language.
b. Formerly entitled “Transportation Threat Assessment and Credentialing.”
c. Overseas contingency operations funding is displayed in this line but is not added to the appropriations total
in accordance with the appropriations committees’ practices for subtotaling this account. This funding is
reflected in the total gross budgetary resources for the Coast Guard, not the total appropriation.
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Protection, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery
Table 3. Budgetary Resources for Protection, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery,
FY2015 and FY2016
(budget authority in millions of dollars)
FY2015
FY2016
Component/Appropriation
Enacted Request
Title III
National Protection and Programs
Directorate
Management and Administration
62
64
Infrastructure Protection and Information
1,189 1,312
Security
Federal Protective Servicea [1,343]
[1,443]
Office of Biometric Identity Management
252
284
Appropriation 1,502
1,659
Fees, Mandatory Spending, and Trust Funds
1,343
1,443
Total Budgetary Resources
2,845
3,103
Office of Health Affairs
Appropriation 129
124
Fees, Mandatory Spending, and Trust Funds
0
0
Total Budgetary Resources
129
124
Federal Emergency Management
Agency
Salaries and Expenses
934
949
Grants and Training
2,530
2,231
Radiological Emergency Preparedness
-2
*
U.S. Fire Administration
44
42
Disaster Relief Fund
596
662
Total Disaster Relief Fundingb [7,033]
[7,375]
Flood Hazard Mapping and Risk Analysis
100
279
National Flood Insurance Funda [179]
[181]
Pre-disaster Mitigation Fund
25
200
Emergency Food and Shelter
120
100
Appropriation 4,347
4,462
Fees, Mandatory Spending, and Trust Funds
4,538
4,666
Disaster Relief Adjustment
6,438
6,713
Total Budgetary Resources
15,323
15,841
Net Budget Authority: Title III
5,979
6,246
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FY2015
FY2016
Component/Appropriation
Enacted Request
General Provisions and Other Resources in the Appropriations
Measure
Transfer to OIG from FEMA’s DRF
-24
-24
Other Resources
-24
-24
Net Discretionary Budget Authority:
5,955 6,222
Protection, Preparedness, Response
and Recovery
Total Gross Budgetary Resources
18,274
19,044
Source: CRS analysis of P.L. 114-4 and its explanatory statement as printed in the Congressional Record of
January 13, 2015, pp. H275-H322, and the FY2016 DHS Budget-in-Brief.
Notes: * = rounds to zero. Table displays rounded numbers, but al operations were performed with
unrounded data. Amounts, therefore, may not sum to totals. Fee revenues included in the “Fees, Mandatory
Spending, and Trust Funds” lines are projections.
a. This line is whol y offset by fees and, therefore, does not add to the total appropriation.
b. This line is a subtotal of the “Disaster Relief Fund” line and the “Disaster Relief Adjustment”—it represents
the total resources provided to the DRF. The “Disaster Relief Fund” line is included in the “Appropriation”
line, but the “Disaster Relief Adjustment” line is not.
Research and Development, Training, and Services
Table 4. Budgetary Resources for Research and Development, Training, and Services
FY2015 andFY2016
(budget authority in millions of dollars)
FY2015
FY2016
Component/Appropriation
Enacted Request
Title IV
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Appropriation 124
130
Fees, Mandatory Spending, and Trust Funds
3,097
3,814
Total Budgetary Resources
3,221
3,944
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center
Salaries and Expenses
230
239
Acquisition, Construction, Improvements, and
28 28
Related Expenses
Appropriation 258
267
Fees, Mandatory Spending, and Trust Funds
0
0
Total Budgetary Resources
258
267
Science and Technology Directorate
Management and Administration
130
132
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FY2015
FY2016
Component/Appropriation
Enacted Request
Research, Development, Acquisition, and
974 647
Operations
Appropriation 1,104
779
Fees, Mandatory Spending, and Trust Funds
0
0
Total Budgetary Resources
1,104
779
Domestic Nuclear Detection Office
Management and Administration
37
38
Research, Development, and Operations
198
196
Systems Acquisition
73
123
Appropriation 308
357
Fees, Mandatory Spending, and Trust Funds
0
0
Total Budgetary Resources
308
357
Net Budget Authority: Title IV
1,795
1,533
General Provisions and Other Resources in the Appropriations
Measure
Other Resources
0
0
Net Discretionary Budget Authority:
1,795 1,533
Research and Development, Training, and
Services
Total Gross Budgetary Resources
4,892
5,347
Source: CRS analysis of P.L. 114-4 and its explanatory statement as printed in the Congressional Record of
January 13, 2015, pp. H275-H322, and the FY2016 DHS Budget-in-Brief.
Notes: Table displays rounded numbers, but al operations were performed with unrounded data. Amounts,
therefore, may not sum to totals. Fee revenues included in the “Fees, Mandatory Spending, and Trust Funds”
lines are projections.
Crosscutting Issues for the Department of Homeland Security
Federal Civilian Employee Pay Raise
The Administration proposed a 1.3% pay increase for all civilian federal employees and members
of the military in its FY2016 budget request. Almost all DHS employees are considered civilians,
with the significant exception of Coast Guard military personnel.
Discretionary Spending Limits
Most of the DHS budget is outside of the defense budget function (050). As a result, the
department competes with the rest of the federal nondefense budget for discretionary spending
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allocations under the budget controls imposed by the Budget Control Act.5 The funding to be
allocated among the appropriations subcommittees is not anticipated to rise at the same rate as
envisioned in the Administration’s budget request. House Homeland Security Subcommittee
Chairman John Carter described the tension this creates at a subcommittee hearing on the request:
To begin, the $1.5 billion increase [proposed for DHS] absorbs almost 75% of non-defense,
discretionary spending available under the limits of the Budget Control Act of 2013. Mr.
Secretary … the Congress intends to live within the confines of the law even if the
Administration does not. As a result, I doubt DHS’s budget will rise as steeply as the request
proposes.6
Expenditure and Investment Plans
As part of their oversight functions, appropriations committees at times may require federal
agencies to provide one or both of two special types of documents—expenditure plans and
investment plans. Expenditure plans (also known as obligation, financial, or operating plans) are a
response to the appropriation provided to a particular element of the department; essentially, they
outline what the element will do with the level of funding Congress has provided for the fiscal
year. Investment plans have a longer-term perspective and relate how an element plans to fund
something (often a major capital investment) over the course of several years.
For the FY2015 budget cycle, the House-reported bill and committee report directed the
department to provide 13 “obligation and expenditure plans” through a single general provision.7
The Senate-reported bill and committee report directed the department to provide 16 expenditure
plans. Parameters for these plans are spelled out in various places in the reports accompanying the
bills reported by both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees.8
Three investment plans were required in the House-reported bill and committee report, whereas
the Senate-reported bill and committee report required seven such plans. Like the expenditure
plans, parameters for these plans are spelled out in various places in the reports and bills reported
by both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees.
P.L. 114-4 and the accompanying explanatory statement called for obligation or expenditure plans
from the following elements of DHS:
• Office of Policy,
• Office of Intergovernmental Affairs/Partnership and Engagement,
• Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties,
• Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman,
5 For more detail on the Budget Control Act and its implications on the appropriations process, see CRS Report
R41965, The Budget Control Act of 2011, by Bill Heniff Jr., Elizabeth Rybicki, and Shannon M. Mahan.
6 Rep. John Carter, opening statement for Budget Hearing—Department of Homeland Security, House Appropriations
Committee Subcommittee on Homeland Security, March 26, 2015, at http://docs.house.gov/meetings/AP/AP15/
20150326/103205/HHRG-114-AP15-20150326-SD001.pdf.
7 H.R. 4903, Sec. 514.
8 H.Rept. 113-481, pp. 24-25; S.Rept. 113-198, pp. 16-17, 25.
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• Office of Privacy,
• Headquarters Consolidation,
• Financial Service Modernization,
• Office of the Inspector General,
• Customs and Border Protection (all accounts),
• Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Salaries and Expenses,
• U.S. Coast Guard, Military Housing,
• National Protection and Programs Directorate,
• Office of Biometric Identity Management (specified separately from NPPD),
• Federal Emergency Management Agency, Automation Modernization,
• Federal Emergency Management Agency, Disaster Relief Fund (base), and
• Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, Salaries and Expenses.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is required to submit investment plans for air
cargo, checkpoint security, and explosive detection systems activities under its Aviation Security
appropriation. These investment plans include elements of (but also go beyond the parameters of)
obligation and expenditure plans.
For Further Information
For additional perspectives on FY2016 DHS appropriations, see the following:
• CRS Report R44048, Trends in the Timing and Size of DHS Appropriations: In
Brief
• CRS Report R44051, Comparing DHS Appropriations by Component, FY2016:
Fact Sheet
• CRS Report R44052, DHS Budget v. DHS Appropriations: Fact Sheet
Readers also may wish to consult CRS’s experts directly. The following table lists names and
contact information for the CRS analysts and specialists who contribute to CRS DHS
appropriations reports:
Table 5. DHS Appropriations Experts
Component/Subcomponent Name
Phone
Email
DHS Annual and Supplemental
William Painter
7-3335
wpainter@crs.loc.gov
Appropriations, Overall
Departmental Management
Barbara L. Schwemle
7-8655
bschwemle@crs.loc.gov
DHS Headquarters Consolidation
Wil iam Painter
7-3335
wpainter@crs.loc.gov
Analysis and Operations
Jerome Bjelopera
7-0622
jbjelopera@crs.loc.gov
Office of the Inspector General
William Painter
7-3335
wpainter@crs.loc.gov
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Component/Subcomponent Name
Phone
Email
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Lisa Seghetti
7-4669
lseghetti@crs.loc.gov
U.S. Immigration and Customs
Alison Siskin
7-0260
asiskin@crs.loc.gov
Enforcement
Transportation Security
Bart Elias
7-7771
belias@crs.loc.gov
Administration
U.S. Coast Guard
John Frittelli
7-7033
jfrittelli@crs.loc.gov
U.S. Secret Service
Shawn Reese
7-0635
sreese@crs.loc.gov
National Protection and Programs
Directorate
Infrastructure Protection and Information
John D. Moteff
7-1435
jmoteff@crs.loc.gov
Services
Federal Protective Service
Shawn Reese
7-0635
sreese@crs.loc.gov
Office of Biometric Identity Management
Lisa Seghetti
7-4669
lseghetti@crs.loc.gov
Office of Health Affairs
Sarah A. Lister
7-7320
slister@crs.loc.gov
Federal Emergency Management
Agency
Management
Francis X. McCarthy
7-9533
fmccarthy@crs.loc.gov
Preparedness Grants
Shawn Reese
7-0635
sreese@crs.loc.gov
Firefighter Assistance Grants
Lennard G. Kruger
7-7070
lkruger@crs.loc.gov
Disaster Relief Fund
Bruce R. Lindsay
7-3752
blindsay@crs.loc.gov
Emergency Food and Shelter
Francis X. McCarthy
7-9533
fmccarthy@crs.loc.gov
Pre-disaster Mitigation
Francis X. McCarthy
7-9533
fmccarthy@crs.loc.gov
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
William A. Kandel
7-4703
wkandel@crs.loc.gov
Services
Science and Technology
Daniel Morgan
7-5849
dmorgan@crs.loc.gov
Domestic Nuclear Detection Office
Daniel Morgan
7-5849
dmorgan@crs.loc.gov
General Provisions
William Painter
7-3335
wpainter@crs.loc.gov
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Appendix. Appropriations Terms and Concepts
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 Act9
prohibits federal agencies from obligating more funds than the budget authority enacted by
Congress. Budget authority also may be indefinite, 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 only available
for obligation 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. Outlays are the funds that are
actually spent during the fiscal year.10 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 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 199011 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
9 31 U.S.C. §§1341, 1342, 1344, 1511-1517.
10 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 http://fms.treas.gov/annualreport/cs2005/c18.pdf.
11 P.L. 101-508, Title XIII.
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appropriated each year and are included in appropriations acts. Within DHS, Coast Guard
retirement pay is an example of appropriated mandatory spending.
Offsetting Collections12
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 that are 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 Committee issuing a report delineating the revised
suballocations as the various appropriations bills progress toward final enactment.
Table A-1 shows comparable figures for the 302(b) allocation for FY2015, based on P.L. 114-4,
and the President’s request for FY2016. House and Senate allocations for the Homeland Security
appropriations bill will be added as they become available.
12 Prepared with assistance from Bill Heniff Jr., Analyst in American National Government.
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Table A-1. FY2015 and FY2016 302(b) Discretionary Allocations for DHS
(budget authority in billions of dollars)
FY2016
FY2015
FY2016 Request
FY2016 House
FY2016 Senate
Enacted
Comparable
Comparable
Allocation
Allocation
Comparable
39.670a 41,194b 39,320b 40,213
Source: CRS analysis of the explanatory statement accompanying H.R. 240 as printed in the Congressional Record
of January 13, 2015, pp. H275-H322, and the FY2015 DHS Budget-in-Brief.
a. This authority does not include the $213 million for overseas contingency operations or the $6,438 million
for disaster relief covered by adjustments to the discretionary spending caps set by the Budget Control Act.
b. This authority does not include the $6,713 million requested for disaster relief covered by adjustments to
the discretionary spending caps set by the Budget Control Act.
The Budget Control Act, Discretionary Spending Caps, and Adjustments
The FY2012 appropriations bills were the first appropriations bills governed by the Budget
Control Act, which established discretionary security and nonsecurity spending caps for FY2012
and FY2013. The bill also established overall caps that govern the actions of appropriations
committees in both chambers. Subsequent legislation, including the Bipartisan Budget Act of
2013,13 amended those caps. For FY2015, the overall cap on discretionary spending is $1,014
billion. Separate limitations are made for defense and nondefense spending—roughly $521 billion
and $492 billion, respectively. Most of the budget for DHS is considered nondefense spending.
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 is determined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB),
using the following formula:
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.
For FY2014, OMB determined the allowable adjustment for disaster relief was $12,143 million,14
of which only $5,717 million was exercised. In February 2015, OMB noted the FY2015
allowable adjustment for disaster assistance was $18,430 million: $11,913 million from the
13 P.L. 113-67.
14 Office of Management and Budget, OMB Sequestration Preview Report to the President and Congress for Fiscal
Year 2015, Washington, DC, March 10, 2014, p. 9.
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rolling average and $6,517 million in carryover from FY2014.15 FY2015 was the first year in
which more than $1 billion of allowable adjustment for disaster relief carried over from the
previous fiscal year.
Author Contact Information
William L. Painter
Analyst in Emergency Management and Homeland
Security Policy
wpainter@crs.loc.gov, 7-3335
15 Office of Management and Budget, OMB Sequestration Update Report to the President and Congress for Fiscal
Year 2016, Washington, DC, February 2, 2015, p. 12.
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