The Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) plans to weigh a spending plan today that would cut the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) budget request, for items including Coast Guard ships, less than the House has proposed.
The Senate Appropriations Homeland Security subcommittee (SAC-HS) approved yesterday a fiscal year 2012 appropriations bill for DHS that would set agency funding at $41 billion, which it interprets as $2.6 billion below President Barack Obama’s request and $408 million more than the bill the Republican-controlled House passed June 2.
The DHS spending plan approved by the SAC-HS, which is controlled by Democrats, also has an additional $258 million for Coast Guard overseas-contingency operations–which includes supporting six patrol boats in the Persian Gulf–and additional money beyond the White House’s request for the FEMA Disaster Relief Fund.
SAC-HS Chairwoman Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), in justifying the increase in DHS funding over the House bill, noted the 10-year anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and six-year anniversary of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the Gulf Coast. She said DHS must be prepared for enemy attacks, unpredictable weather, and as “in the case of Katrina, failure to maintain adequate infrastructure.”
“I believe that the House bill that we amended today took a shortsighted approach to these challenging missions,” she said yesterday.
For the Coast Guard, the SAC-HS bill includes $8.911 billion in discretionary funding, which the panel said in a summary is $271 million more than in the House bill. The Senate panel would do not cut the Obama administration’s request for Coast Guard acquisition efforts, providing $1.4 billion. The House proposed $1.2 billion, which would be a $200 million cut.
The SAC-HS bill would give the Coast Guard $358 million for all six Fast Response Cutters (FRCs) it wants as well as the $77 million requested for long-lead material for the sixth National Security Cutter, funding House appropriations wanted to cut.
Landrieu highlighted the funding for the FRCs, which would be built at Bollinger Shipyard in Lockport, La.
“Not only will they be built by the highly-skilled workers at Bollinger, but by acquiring six of them in this upcoming fiscal year, it maximizes the production line and saves taxpayers $30 million,” she said. She called the House’s proposed $118 million FRC cut “one of many penny-wise and pound-foolish cuts” the House made to the DHS budget.
The Senate plan also would fully fund the administration’s $110 million request for 40 Response Boat Mediums, which the House appropriations wanted to trim. The SAC-HS proposed slight reductions to the administration’s requests for ships including Maritime Patrol Aircraft.
The Senate panel’s bill would require the Coast Guard to submit a five-year Capital Investment Plan for major acquisitions. The bill has additional congressional-oversight requirements for the Coast Guard, including mandates for quarterly reports on major acquisitions and a revised Fleet Mix Validation Study reviewed by the Government Accountability Office.
For the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the SAC-HS would grant $2.58 billion for state and local grants, or $557 million more than the House would. The Senate panel rejected the House proposal to kill the Urban Area Security Initiative, Port Security Grants, and Transit Security Grants and replace them with a block grant
The Senate panel would grant the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) $7.9 billion, which is $83 million more than the House would. The SAC-HS would fund the administration’s request for buying 275 Advanced Imaging Technology machines, which House appropriators rejected.
The SAC-HS called for giving U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) $400 million for border fencing and technology, which it said is $173 million below the FY ‘11 level because of “significant delays in deploying technology along the border and excessive unobligated balances.” The panel proposed adding $36 million in CBP procurement funding for items including an additional multi-role enforcement aircraft and for upgrading an additional UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter.
For DHS Science and Technology (S&T), the Senate panel recommended appropriating $800 million, which is $261 million above the House bill.
“If enacted, the House funding level will effectively end DHS development of new technologies for DHS operations,” the SAC-HS said in a statement. “The Senate bill will allow S&T to continue research in critical areas such as detection of a biological attack, IED detection, internet vulnerabilities, interoperability for first responders, and research to counter violent extremism.”