The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday voted 26-4 to send a $40.2 billion net discretionary spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to the full Senate for consideration.
The funding amount is $1.2 billion less than the Obama administration requested for DHS in FY ’16 but still $543 million more than Congress enacted for FY ’15. Senators voting against the bill were Christopher Murphy (D-Conn.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Jack Reed (R.I.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.).
Earlier in the week the panel’s subcommittee on Homeland Security approved the bill by voice vote.
During Thursday’s markup the committee rejected an amendment by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the ranking member on the Homeland Security Subcommittee, which would have added $1.2 billion to equalize with the administration’s request. The amendment would have added back two Coast Guard Fast Response Cutters (FRC) that were cut in the bill, matching the request for six FRCs, fully fund the detailed design phase of the new medium-endurance Offshore Patrol Cutter, which is the Coast Guard’s top acquisition priority, help the Coast Guard move toward buying a new polar icebreaker, and add $50 million to reduce federal cyber security vulnerabilities.
Shaheen’s amendment was defeated along a party line vote, 16-14.
Despite the cut to the administration’s request, the committee provided $640 million to fund a ninth Coast Guard high-endurance National Security Cutter (NSC), a priority for Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), who represents the state where the NSCs are built. The Coast Guard didn’t request any funds to continue NSC production, which is slated to stop after the eighth ship is built. Earlier this year the Coast Guard awarded the final NSC production contract to shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Shipbuilding [HII].
A manager’s package offered by Homeland Security Subcommittee Chairman John Hoeven (R-N.D.) that included several amendments was approved by the panel. One amendment in the package proposed by Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) encourages Customs and Border Protection to use unobligated balances to accelerate the Ultralight Aircraft Detection Program to detect light-weight, low-flying aircraft used in smuggling drugs into the United States.
Another amendment in the manager’s package was proposed by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) requiring the Coast Guard to have at least one cutter operate in the Bering Sea and Arctic Region at all times during the next 10 years. The committee is concerned that adequate coverage of these areas is in danger due to reliance on legacy cutters that are aging.
A separate amendment offered by Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and backed by the committee’s ranking member Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) to bring Poland into the Visa Waiver Program was agreed to by voice vote.