The House on Wednesday approved a $39.7 billion appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for the remainder of fiscal year 2015 while also passing several amendments designed to prevent executive actions by President Barack Obama’s administration to reform immigration.
The 236-191 vote, largely along party lines, is $400 million more than appropriated in FY ’14 for discretionary spending and includes funding for a range of programs and operations in support of aviation, border and maritime security.
The bill (H.R. 240) must still be approved by the Senate. Obama is expected to veto the legislation if it includes the provisions blocking his immigration reform actions.
For the Coast Guard, the House measure includes funds for the eighth and final National Security Cutter to be built by Huntington Ingalls Industries [HII], two more Fast Response Cutters to be built by Bollinger Shipyards, an additional Lockheed Martin- [LMT] built C-130J maritime patrol aircraft and a remanufactured United Technologies [UTX] H-60 helicopter. Overall, the Coast Guard would receive $10 billion, $439.5 million more than requested, but $159 million below FY ’14 levels.
Funding for cyber security operations managed by the National Programs and Protection Directorate would be $753.2 million, about $8 million more than House appropriators originally proposed last summer.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) would receive $10.7 billion, $118.7 more than in FY ’14, in part to support continued record levels of Border Patrol agents and CBP officers. CBP would also be required to maintain at least 95,000 operational flight hours for its surveillance programs and test mobile biometric exit program for foreign nationals departing the United States.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is funded at $4.8 billion, $94.3 million below FY ’14, and the Science and Technology branch at $1.1 billion, $116.3 million below FY ’14 but $32.1 million more than requested.
The bill also recommends $1.7 billion for the Secret Service, $80.5 million more than FY ’14, including additional funds to cyber security investigations. Funding is also included to address failures in communications and training at the White House that were cited in recent reports following security lapses by the agency.
The amendments included in the bill meant to prevent DHS from moving ahead with Obama’s immigration executive actions announced in November would prevent any funds to be used to grant deferred action to certain unlawful aliens. They would also halt a nearly three year-old program—the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)—that allows certain illegal immigrants that came to the U.S. before they were 16 to apply for work permits and be exempt from deportation. They would finally require illegal aliens convicted of serious offenses such as sexual abuse or child molestation be subject to the department’s highest civil immigration enforcement actions.
The House also passed two “Sense of Congress” amendments calling for the administration not to benefit illegal immigrants versus those in the U.S. legally.
The executive actions announced by Obama on Nov. 20 include requiring the Justice Department to more quickly adjudicate immigration cases where individuals meet DHS enforcement priorities versus and close low priority cases. They also require government enforcement priorities focus on national security threats, serious criminals and recent border crossers, replace the Secure Communities program with the Priority Enforcement Program, expand DACA, require certain illegal immigrants that pass a background check and pay taxes while obtaining temporary relief from deportation. They also take action to streamline legal immigration.