Comparing DHS Component Funding,
FY2021: In Brief
December 7, 2020
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
R46630

Comparing DHS Component Funding, FY2021: In Brief

he homeland security appropriations bill includes all annual appropriations for the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS), providing resources to every departmental
T component.1 This report reviews the budget authority provided to DHS for FY2020 and
requested by the Donald J. Trump administration for FY2021, as well as the congressional
response. It also includes component-level information on FY2020 supplemental funding for
DHS provided in the P.L. 116-136, the CARES Act.2 The report provides a look at the resources
available to DHS components that are described in appropriations committee documentation, and
examines “net discretionary annual appropriations” for DHS—a perspective on the net impact of
legislation that funds DHS on congressionally-tracked budget totals.
The FY2021 DHS Appropriations Process Thus Far
On February 10, 2020, the Trump Administration released their FY2021 budget request, which
included $49.71 billion in adjusted net discretionary budget authority to be provided through the
appropriations process—$0.75 billion (1.5%) less than had been enacted through the Department
of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2020 (P.L. 116-93, Div. D). As part of the request the
Administration requested moving $2.63 billion in U.S. Secret Service (USSS) funding from DHS
to the Department of the Treasury. When the USSS funding request is included in the FY2021
DHS appropriations request, the DHS request is $1.88 billion (3.7%) above the FY2020 enacted
level of annual appropriations.
On July 15, 2020, the House Appropriations Committee marked up H.R. 7669, its version of the
Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2021. H.Rept. 116-458 was filed July 20,
2020. Committee-reported H.R. 7669 included $50.69 billion in adjusted net discretionary budget
authority. This was $0.98 billion (2.0%) above the level requested by the Administration, and
$0.22 billion (0.4%) above the FY2020 enacted level of annual appropriations.
H.R. 7669 was not brought to the House floor before the end of FY2020—one of only two annual
appropriations measures for FY2021 to be reported by the House Appropriations Committee that
did not get floor consideration. As no annual appropriations for FY2021 had been signed into law
before the end of FY2020, on October 1, 2020, a continuing resolution was enacted (P.L. 116-
159), temporarily extending funding for the federal government at the FY2020 rate for operations
through December 11, 2020, including most DHS components and programs.3
On November 10, 2020, the chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations released drafts of
all 12 annual appropriations bills along with draft explanatory statements for each.4 The release of
the draft bills was intended to further negotiations on annual appropriations between the House

1 Under the Trump Administration’s FY2020 budget, as in previous years, DHS would also receive budgetary resources
through appropriations in permanent law, as well as reimbursements and transfers from other parts of the federal
government. However, the DHS appropriations act is the primary vehicle through which Congress annually funds and
directs the financial activities of the department.
2 The CARES Act was the third in a series of relief packages enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic. CARES is an
acronym for “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security.” Division B of the CARES Act is the Emergency
Appropriations for Coronavirus Health Response and Agency Operations.
3 For further information on the FY2021 continuing resolutions, see CRS Report R46582, Overview of Continuing
Appropriations for FY2021 (P.L. 116-159).
4 The 12 draft bills and explanatory statements are on the Senate Appropriations Committee’s website linked to the
majority press release at https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/committee-releases-fy21-bills-in-effort-to-
advance-process-produce-bipartisan-results.
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and the Senate.5 The Senate Appropriations majority draft bill for DHS for FY2021 included
$52.62 billion in adjusted net discretionary budget authority for FY2021. This was $2.91 billion
(5.9%) above the level requested by the Administration, and $2.15 billion (4.2%) above the
enacted annual level for FY2020.
DHS Budgetary Resources: Looking Beyond the
Score
Discussion regarding annual appropriations often centers on the appropriations provided in the
bill or how the bill scores against budget limitations. However, this “score” does not represent the
total budget authority provided to DHS, or controlled through appropriations bills and reports.
 The use of offsetting collections reduces the “score” of the bill and provides
significant resources to some components of DHS, such as the Transportation
Security Administration.
 Discretionary scores of bills do not include mandatory spending, resources
derived directly from fee collections without annual congressional action, or
resources covered by adjustments to the discretionary spending limits.6
Congress controls the reprogramming of many of these resources through detail tables provided
at the end of appropriations committee reports, conference reports, and statements of managers.
Figure 1 uses the data drawn from these detail tables to provide a more comprehensive picture of
the resources available to seven DHS components:7
 U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP),
 the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG),
 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),
 the Transportation Security Administration (TSA),
 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA),
 U.S. Secret Service (USSS), and
 the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
These are the seven largest components of DHS in terms of net discretionary budget authority.
In Figure 1 these seven components are listed along the bottom axis. Each component’s funding
level as a section of the figure has four bars, representing the different phases of the
appropriations process: prior-year (i.e., FY2020) enacted, current year (i.e., FY2021) requested

5 Ibid. See also the statement from the Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair, Senator Patrick Leahy, at
https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/minority/senate-approps-vice-chair-leahy-statement-on-the-release-of-the-
fy-2021-senate-appropriations-bills-.
6 These adjustments, established by the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA; P.L. 112-25), include special exemption
from discretionary spending limits for emergency requirements, the designated costs of major disasters, and for
Overseas Contingency Operations.
7 Supplemental appropriations measures often do not have their contents reflected in a concurrently produced table—
therefore, FY2020 supplemental appropriations data are drawn directly from the supplemental appropriations acts.
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annual appropriations, and the latest actions of the House and Senate appropriations committees.
The base segment of each bar represents net discretionary budget authority.
On top of these bases are several other segment types, representing fee revenues, offsetting
collections, mandatory spending,8 funding from unobligated balances directed by the
appropriations measure, and funding covered by adjustments to discretionary spending limits
under the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA; P.L. 112-25) in annual appropriations.9
Figure 1 allows for a visual comparison of changes in individual component funding and
provides a more complete description of each component’s overall resource level than a review of
the net discretionary appropriations alone. Among the changes it illuminates are:
 the ongoing efforts by the Administration to increase funding for border barriers
(through CBP) and immigration enforcement (through ICE), seen in the FY2021
request, as well as the differing responses of the House and Senate appropriations
committees;
 the relative size of the investment in the costs of major disasters (FEMA),
compared to other elements of the DHS budget;
 the Administration’s proposal to shift the USSS to Treasury, which was not
endorsed by the appropriators of either body;
 the House and Senate appropriations committees’ increase in funding for
cybersecurity (CISA); and
 an increase in discretionary spending to support the TSA’s budget in the absence
of the Trump Administration’s proposed fee increase (reflected in a change in
offsetting collections).
The reader may also note the large amount of supplemental funding for FEMA in FY2020
through the CARES Act, due in part to the high levels of disaster relief-designated funding in the
annual appropriations process to meet the needs of ongoing disaster recovery across the country.

8 The mandatory spending reflected here is composed of two elements: Coast Guard retired pay, which is considered
mandatory spending but requires congressional action nonetheless; and $250 million from the Aviation Security Capital
Fund.
9 For the DHS appropriations legislation, these have included funding designated as disaster relief and funding
designated as supporting Overseas Contingency Operations. For more details about adjustments to discretionary
spending limits under the BCA, see CRS Report R45778, Exceptions to the Budget Control Act’s Discretionary
Spending Limits, by Megan S. Lynch.
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Figure 1. Department of Homeland Security Budget Authority by Selected Component, FY2020-FY2021

Source: CRS analysis of P.L. 116-93, Division D and its explanatory statement as included in H. Comm. Prt. 38-678, P.L. 116-36, H.R. 7669, H.Rept. 116-458, and the
Senate Appropriations Committee majority-produced draft appropriations bil and explanatory statement released on November 11, 2020.
Notes: Totals do not reflect the impact of rescissions or scoring charged to the bil on the basis of changes in mandatory programs. The Administration did not request
funding for the USSS in DHS, but as part of the Department of Treasury: the patterned bar shows the request for comparison.
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Table 1 provides a complete breakdown of the total budget authority outlined in Figure 1 for all
DHS components, arranged by FY2020 enacted net discretionary budget authority.
Table 1. Department of Homeland Security Budget Authority by Component,
FY2020-FY2021
(thousands of dollars of budget authority controlled for reprogramming through appropriations
committee reports)

FY2020
FY2021
FY2021 House
FY2021 Senate
Appropriations Appropriations
EnactedP.L.
Committee-
Committee
Component
116-93,
Budget
reported
Majority Draft
Funding Aspect
Division Da
Request
H.R. 7669
Bill
Customs and Border Protection
17,411,298
18,206,637
17,055,630
18,132,219
Net Discretionary Funding
14,682,867b
15,558,792
14,407,785
15,484,374
Offsetting Col ections
39,000
238,939
238,939
238,939
Fees
2,456,431
2,408,906
2,408,906
2,408,906
U.S. Coast Guard
12,106,924
12,105,598
12,816,825
12,502,612
Net Discretionary
9,973,815
10,231,894
10,728,121
10,628,908
Offsetting Col ections
0
4,000
4,000
4,000
Mandatoryc
1,802,309
1,869,704
1,869,704
1,869,704
Budget Control Act Adjustment
(OCO)
190,000
0
215,000
0
Emergency Supplemental
140,800
0
0
0
Immigration and Customs
Enforcement
8,399,871
10,416,160
7,782,858
8,774,491
Net Discretionary
8,080,071
9,927,063
7,406,248
8,285,394
Fees
319,800
489,097
376,610
489,097
Transportation Security
Administration
8,400,481
8,241,792
8,720,887
8,669,474
Net Discretionary
4,983,567
4,132,328
5,171,423
5,120,010
Offsetting Col ections
2,830,000
3,500,000
2,940,000
2,940,000
Fees
236,914
359,464
359,464
359,464
Mandatory
250,000
250,000
250,000
250,000
Emergency Supplemental
100,000
0
0
0
Federal Emergency
Management Agency
68,002,687
9,594,388
10,872,610
22,398,507
Net Discretionary
4,965,176d e
4,296,667
5,574,889d
5,018,095e
Offsetting Col ections
240,412
237,772
237,772
238,412
Budget Control Act Adjustment
(Disaster Relief)
17,352,112
5,059,949
5,059,949
17,142,000
Emergency Supplemental
45,444,987
0
0
0
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FY2020
FY2021
FY2021 House
FY2021 Senate
Appropriations Appropriations
EnactedP.L.
Committee-
Committee
Component
116-93,
Budget
reported
Majority Draft
Funding Aspect
Division Da
Request
H.R. 7669
Bill
U.S. Secret Service
2,415,845
[2,360,538]f
2,432,796
2,370,344
Net Discretionary
2,415,845
[2,360,538]f
2,432,796
2,370,344
Cybersecurity and
Infrastructure Security Agency
2,024,722
1,757,798
2,254,747
2,028,822
Net Discretionary
2,024,722
1,757,798
2,254,747
2,028,822
Management Directorate
3,123,370
3,350,394
3,349,955
3,045,087
Net Discretionary
1,563,440
1,761,646
1,761,207
1,456,339
Offsetting Col ections
1,559,930
1,588,748
1,588,748
1,588,748
Emergency Supplemental
178,300
-
-
-
Science and Technology
Directorate
737,275
643,729
755,311
763,744
Net Discretionary
737,275
643,729
755,311
763,744
Countering Weapons of Mass
Destruction
432,299
377,160
395,262
387,577
Net Discretionary
432,299
377,160
395,262
387,577
Federal Law Enforcement
Training Center
351,170
331,479
343,945
330,423
Net Discretionary
351,170
331,479
343,945
330,423
Analysis and Operations
284,141
312,638
311,263
300,232
Net Discretionary
284,141
312,638
311,263
300,232
Office of the Inspector General
190,186
177,779
190,186
192,000
Net Discretionary
190,186
177,779
190,186
192,000
Office of the Secretary and
Executive Management
357,108
150,359
151,868
172,319
Net Discretionary
178,808e
150,359
151,868
172,319
U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services
4,851,219
5,050,549
5,069,864
5,050,549
Net Discretionary
132,395
118,676
183,949
118,676
Fees
4,718,824
4,931,873
4,885,915
4,931,873
TOTAL NET DISCRETIONARY
BUDGET AUTHORITY PLUS
ADJUSTMENTS, DHS
114,634,976
54,837,957
57,343,949
69,799,257
Source: CRS analysis of P.L. 116-93, Division D and its explanatory statement as included in H. Comm. Prt. 38-
678, P.L. 116-136, H.R. 7669, H. Rept. 116-458, and the Senate Appropriations Committee majority-produced
draft appropriations bil and explanatory statement released on November 10, 2020.
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Notes: Totals do not reflect the impact of rescissions or scoring charged to the bil on the basis of changes in
mandatory programs. Adjustments include emergency, disaster relief, and Overseas Contingency Operations
(OCO) designated funding.
a. Emergency supplemental funding in this column was provided by P.L. 116-136.
b. The table and figure do not reflect a redirection of $233 mil ion in emergency appropriations for CBP from
P.L. 116-26 by P.L. 116-93, Division D, §212 and §537.
c. Coast Guard retired pay is considered mandatory spending, but stil requires an appropriation each year to
provide the resources the U.S. government is legally obligated to pay.
d. Includes $41 mil ion for a grant program funded in Title V for reimbursement to local government for law
enforcement costs for protecting the President.
e. Does not reflect a $10 mil ion transfer from the Office of the Secretary and Executive Management to the
Federal Emergency Management Agency to fund the Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention Grants
program.
f.
Included for reference only and not in the total, as this funding was requested as part of the budget for the
Department of the Treasury.
Some DHS components have access to funding beyond the budget authority controlled for
reprogramming through the aforementioned detail tables in appropriations committee reports.
Although some of the mandatory spending for DHS, including fee-funded programs, is reflected
in the tables, much of DHS’s mandatory spending is not, and is therefore not reflected in Figure
1 or Table 1. This includes spending on flood insurance claims, as well as trust funds for the
Coast Guard and the Secret Service. Information on this type of mandatory spending can be found
in the Administration’s budget request.10
Likewise, the detail tables do not reflect reimbursements between components for services
provided, such as payments from partner agencies to the Federal Law Enforcement Training
Center for the cost of training programs. Information on these resources can be found in the DHS
annual budget justifications submitted to Congress.
DHS Appropriations: Comparing Scores
It is often rhetorically useful to describe the comparative difference in funding for given DHS
components. This is frequently done by comparing the net discretionary funding level for
components. Table 2 shows congressional action on net discretionary annual FY2021
appropriations for DHS distributed by departmental component.
Each grouping of three lines in Table 2 presents an analysis of a component’s net discretionary
annual appropriations—appropriations provided from the Treasury that are not offset by other
incoming resources.11 Lines below each component name indicate two baselines commonly used
to make comparisons of appropriations—the FY2021 requested funding level and the FY2020
enacted funding level, both expressed in thousands of dollars of net discretionary budget
authority. To the right of each component name in bold is the funding level reported by the House
Appropriations Committee in H.Rept. 116-458 and the Senate Appropriations Committee
majority’s explanatory statement accompanying their draft bill for FY2021. Below each line of
bold numbers are two analytical lines showing the change that bold number represents compared
to the two baselines: these changes are reflected in thousands of dollars, and then as a percentage.

10 The FY2021 DHS budget request can be found at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/
dhs_fy21.pdf.
11 In accordance with appropriations committee practices, these totals do not include elements of annual funding
covered by the disaster relief designation or overseas contingency operations designation.
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The components are ordered from largest to smallest by FY2020 enacted annual net discretionary
funding level.
FY2020 supplemental appropriations are not reflected in Table 2. The purpose of the table is to
provide comparative perspectives on annual appropriations levels at various stages of the process,
as well as to improve understanding of comparative annual appropriations levels across the
department, rather than to survey total resources provided by Congress, which can be seen in
Figure 1 and Table 1.
Table 2. DHS Annual Appropriations by Component, FY2020-FY2021
(net discretionary budget authority, in thousands of dollars)
House Committee-Reported
Senate Appropriations

H.R. 7669
Majority Draft
Component
Baseline
$ change v.
% change v.
$ change v.
% change v.
Baseline
Value
baseline
baseline
baseline
baseline
Customs and Border Protection
14,407,785

15,484,374

FY2021 Request
15,558,792
-1,151,007
-7.4%
-74,418
-0.5%
FY2020 Enacted
14,682,867
-275,082
-1.9%
801,507
5.5%

U.S. Coast Guard
10,728,121
10,628,908
FY2020 Request
10,231,894
496,227
4.8%
397,014
3.9%
FY2019 Enacted
9,973,815
754,306
7.6%
655,093
6.6%

Immigration and Customs
7,406,248
8,285,394
Enforcement
FY2021 Request
9,927,063
-2,520,815
-25.4%
-1,641,669
-16.5%
FY2020 Enacted
8,080,071
-673,823
-8.3%
205,323
2.5%

Transportation Security Agency
5,171,423
5,120,010
FY2021 Request
4,132,328
1,039,095
25.1%
987,682
23.9%
FY2020 Enacted
4,983,567
187,856
3.8%
136,443
2.7%

Federal Emergency
5,574,889
5,018,095
Management Agency
FY2021 Request
4,296,667
1,278,222
29.7%
721,428
16.8%
FY2020 Enacted
4,965,176
609,713
12.3%
52,919
1.1%

U.S. Secret Service
2,432,796
2,370,344
FY2021 Request
2,360,538a
72,258
3.1%
9,806
0.4%
FY2020 Enacted
2,415,845
16,951
0.7%
-45,501
-1.9%

Cybersecurity and
2,254,747
2,028,822
Infrastructure Security Agency
FY2021 Request
1,757,798
496,949
28.3%
271,024
15.4%
FY2020 Enacted
2,024,722
230,025
11.4%
4,100
0.2%

Management Directorate
1,761,207
1,456,339
FY2021 Request
1,761,646
-439
0.0%
-305,307
-17.3%
FY2020 Enacted
1,563,440
197,767
12.6%
-107,101
-6.9%
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Comparing DHS Component Funding, FY2021: In Brief

House Committee-Reported
Senate Appropriations

H.R. 7669
Majority Draft
Component
Baseline
$ change v.
% change v.
$ change v.
% change v.
Baseline
Value
baseline
baseline
baseline
baseline

Science and Technology
755,311
763,744
Directorate
FY2021 Request
643,729
111,582
17.3%
120,015
18.6%
FY2020 Enacted
737,275
18,036
2.4%
26,469
3.6%

Office of Countering Weapons
395,262
387,577
of Mass Destruction
FY2021 Request
377,160
18,102
4.8%
10,417
2.8%
FY2020 Enacted
432,299
-37,037
-8.6%
-44,722
-10.3%

Federal Law Enforcement
343,945
330,423
Training Center
FY2021 Request
331,479
12,466
3.8%
-1,056
-0.3%
FY2020 Enacted
351,170
-7,225
-2.1%
-20,747
-5.9%

Analysis and Operations
311,263
300,232
FY2021 Request
312,638
-1,375
-0.4%
-12,406
-4.0%
FY2020 Enacted
284,141
27,122
9.5%
16,091
5.7%

Office of the Inspector General
190,186
192,000
FY2021 Request
177,779
12,407
7.0%
14,221
8.0%
FY2020 Enacted
190,186
0
0.0%
1,814
1.0%

Office of the Secretary and
151,868
172,319
Executive Management
FY2021 Request
150,359
1,509
1.0%
21,960
14.6%
FY2020 Enacted
178,808
-26,940
-15.1%
-6,489
-3.6%

U.S. Citizenship and
183,949
118,676
Immigration Services
FY2021 Request
118,676
65,273
55.0%
0
0.0%
FY2020 Enacted
132,395
51,554
38.9%
-13,719
-10.4%
Source: CRS analysis of P.L. 116-93. Division D and its explanatory statement as included in H. Comm. Prt. 38-
678, P.L. 116-36, H.R. 7669, H.Rept. 116-458, and the Senate Appropriations Committee majority-produced
draft appropriations bil and explanatory statement released on November 10 2020.
Notes: Totals do not reflect the impact of rescissions or scoring charged to the bil on the basis of changes in
mandatory programs.
a. Included for reference only and not in the total, as this funding was requested as part of the budget for the
Department of the Treasury.

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Comparing DHS Component Funding, FY2021: In Brief

Author Information

William L. Painter

Specialist in Homeland Security and Appropriations

Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan
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under the direction of Congress. Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other
than public understanding of information that has been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in
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