Comparing DHS Component Funding, FY2017: Fact Sheet

Contents

Generally, the homeland security appropriations bill includes all annual appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), providing resources to every departmental component. The following figures show two perspectives on the budget authority for DHS enacted for FY2016 and requested by the Barack Obama Administration for FY2017, as well as the funding levels provided in the committee-reported homeland security appropriations bills and enacted FY2017 DHS appropriations.¹

On March 16, 2017, the Donald J. Trump Administration submitted an amendment to the FY2017 budget request, which included a request for $3 billion in additional funding for DHS. The appropriations committees responded to this request for additional funding in a sixth title of the DHS appropriations act.

On September 1, 2017, the Trump Administration requested an additional $7.85 billion in supplemental funding for FY2017, including $7.4 billion for the DHS—specifically for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Disaster Relief Fund.² On September 6, the House passed the relief package requested by the Administration as an amendment to H.R. 601. On September 7, the Senate passed an amended version as part of a broader relief package. The House passed the Senate amended version of the bill on September 8, which was signed into law as P.L. 115-56.

This fact sheet reflects this supplemental funding separately from the annual appropriations in the first five titles, and presents the original FY2017 Obama Administration budget request unamended, because it was the basis for the annual appropriations reflected in the FY2017 measure.

Figure 1 shows total net discretionary appropriations for DHS broken down by component, and ordered from largest to smallest by FY2016 enacted funding level.

In Figure 1, the first column shows budget authority provided in P.L. 114-113, which included the FY2016 annual appropriations act for DHS as Division F. The second column shows a similar breakdown for the FY2017 Obama Administration request, while the third and fourth show the Senate Appropriations Committee-reported and House Appropriations Committee-reported proposed funding levels. The final column shows the budget authority provided in the FY2017 DHS appropriations act (P.L. 115-31, Division F). Supplemental funding is reflected with a pattern to differentiate it from annual appropriation.³

The Obama Administration proposed the creation of a new component in FY2017—the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives Office—which would have included two other entire components: the Office of Health Affairs and the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office. While the House committee-reported bill approved this realignment, the Senate committee-reported bill did not. Ultimately, the enacted FY2017 annual appropriation did not approve the realignment.

Figure 1. Department of Homeland Security Net Discretionary Budget Authority by Component, FY2016-FY2017

Sources: CRS analysis of Division F of P.L. 114-113 and its explanatory statement as printed in the Congressional Record of December 17, 2015, pp. H10161-H10210; S.Rept. 114-280; H.Rept. 114-668, and Division F of P.L. 115-31 and its explanatory statement as printed in the Congressional Record of May 3, 2017, pp. H3807-H3873. Notes: For underlying data and notes on data, see Table 1. The "FY2017 Request" column reflects the FY2017 budget request by the Obama Administration for annual appropriations. Abbreviations: CBP, Customs and Border Protection; USCG, U.S. Coast Guard; ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement; TSA, Transportation Security Administration; FEMA, Federal Emergency Management Administration; USSS, U.S. Secret Service; NPPD, National Protection and Programs Directorate; S&T, Science and Technology Directorate; DNDO, Domestic Nuclear Detection Office; A&O, Analysis and Operations; FLETC, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center; OIG, Office of the Inspector General; OHA, Office of Health Affairs; USCIS, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; and CBRNEO, Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives Office.

While the total net discretionary budget authority, when adjusted for the effect of rescissions, provides the "score" that is measured against the bill's discretionary spending allocation, it does not represent the total budget authority provided to DHS. "Net" discretionary appropriations are the net balance of discretionary appropriations minus any offsetting collections. Such collections are addressed in the appropriations legislation, and provide significant resources to some components of DHS, such as the Transportation Security Administration and National Protection and Programs Directorate. They do not include mandatory spending, resources derived directly from fee collections without annual congressional action, and resources covered by adjustments to the discretionary spending limits, such as for emergency requirements, the designated costs of major disasters, or for overseas contingency operations. Congress controls the reprogramming of these resources through detailed tables provided in appropriations committee reports, conference reports, and statements of managers.

Figure 2 uses the data drawn from these detailed tables to show a more complete picture of the resources available to eight DHS components: U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Coast Guard, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Secret Service, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services—the seven operational components—and the National Protection and Programs Directorate.

In Figure 2, these eight components are listed along the bottom axis. Each component's funding level as a section of the figure has five bars, representing the same five phases of the appropriations process as in Figure 1: funding described in the explanatory statement accompanying the enacted FY2016 appropriations for DHS; requested by the Obama Administration for FY2017; recommended by the House and Senate appropriations committees for FY2017; and enacted in Division F of P.L. 115-31 and P.L. 115-54. The bottom segment of each bar represents net discretionary budget authority—the same amount for each as represented in Figure 1. As in Figure 1, supplemental appropriations (which would be included in calculations of both net and total discretionary budget authority in the act) are reflected by a pattern.

On top of these segments are several other types of segments, representing fee revenues, offsetting collections, mandatory spending,⁴ and adjustments to discretionary spending limits under the Budget Control Act. The resulting diagram allows for easier comparison of changes in individual component appropriations, and provides a more accurate description of each component's overall resource level. Among the changes it illuminates are the increase in discretionary spending to support the TSA's budget in the absence of the Administration's proposed fee increase, congressional rejection of cuts in FEMA's grant programs, and supplemental appropriations for the DRF provided during the 2017 hurricane season.

Figure 2. Department of Homeland Security Budget Authority by Selected DHS Component, FY2016-FY2017 (budget authority controlled for reprogramming through appropriations committee reports)

Sources: CRS analysis of Division F of P.L. 114-113 and its explanatory statement in the Congressional Record of December 17, 2015, pp. H10161-H10210; S.Rept. 114-280; H.Rept. 114-668, Division F of P.L. 115-31 and its explanatory statement in the Congressional Record of May 3, 2017, pp. H3807-H3873; and P.L. 115-54. Notes: For underlying data and notes on data, see Table 1. The "FY2017 Request" column reflects the FY2017 budget request by the Obama Administration for annual appropriations. Abbreviations: CBP, Customs and Border Protection; USCG, U.S. Coast Guard; ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement; TSA, Transportation Security Administration; FEMA, Federal Emergency Management Administration; USSS, U.S. Secret Service; NPPD, National Protection and Programs Directorate; and USCIS, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Table 1 provides a complete breakdown of the net discretionary budget authority outlined in Figure 1 and the five aspects of funding outlined in Figure 2 for all DHS components.

These five aspects of funding controlled for reprogramming through the detail tables in appropriations reports do not reflect all funding available to these components. Much mandatory spending, including trust funds for the Coast Guard and the Secret Service and spending on flood insurance claims, is not reflected in the detail tables.

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