The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday approved by voice vote a $41.1 billion spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in FY ’17, adding $432 million to the Obama administration’s request.
The bill is $100 million higher than enacted for FY ’16 and is $100 million less than Senate appropriators have recommended in FY ’17.
The markup lasted nearly three hours with a large chunk of the time devoted to a gun control amendment offered by ranking member Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) that failed on a 31-16 vote. The amendment is designed to prevent potential terrorists from purchasing firearms and is identical to one offered by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) that was defeated by the Senate this week.
A separate Lowey amendment to provide $1.9 billion in emergency supplemental funding to combat the Zika virus also was defeated on a 27-18 vote.
The committee approved four Republican amendments by voice vote, including a manager’s amendment measure by Homeland Security Subcommittee Chairman Rep. John Carter (Texas) that makes technical and other non-controversial changes to the committee report and adds another $49 million to the Federal Emergency Management Agency Countering Violent Extremism/Complex Coordinated Terrorist Attacks state and local grant program.
The three other amendments approved include: A measure offered by Rep. Andy Harris (Md.) that allows returning non-agriculture temporary workers who have previously been a part of the H2B worker program in the prior three years to be counted toward the FY ’17 H2B cap; an amendment offered by Rep. John Culberson (Texas) requiring Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain the most serious criminal illegal aliens; and one from Rep. Mark Amodei (Nev.) that adds bill language to expand the Public Private Partnership program allowing up to five ports of entry to pay the salaries of up to five Customs and Border Protection officers. Current law only allows for overtime to be paid.
The committee also adopted on a 29-15 vote an amendment from Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) that reinstates current law prohibiting federal funding for ICE to provide for abortions,.
The committee defeated by voice vote an amendment from Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) that would have increased homeland security grant funding for states and localities.