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Managing America: Appropriations

Highlights of 2010 HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS

INVESTMENTS

First Responder Grant Programs:  $3.55 billion, $256 million above the President's request and $176 million below 2009.  For the first time since 2004, the President has not proposed significant reductions to these grant programs.  This total includes:

• State Grants: $950 million, the same as the President's request and 2009, for grants used to plan, equip and train local first responders to respond to terrorist attacks and catastrophic incidents.

• Urban Area Grants: $887 million, the same as the President's request and $49.5 million above 2009, to help high-risk urban communities prevent, respond to, and recover from terrorist attacks.
   

• Transit Grants: $250 million, the same as the President's request and $150 million below 2009, to protect critical transit infrastructure, including freight rail, Amtrak and ferry systems in high-threat areas. The Recovery Act provided $150 million for these grants.
   

• Emergency Management Performance Grants: $330 million, $15 million above the President's request and 2009, for all-hazard grants for state and local emergency managers.
   

• Fire Grants (including SAFER): $800 million, $210 million above the President's request and $25 million above 2009, to help local fire departments address communication, equipment and staffing problems. Of this total, $420 million is for SAFER, as requested, and $380 million is for fire grants.
   

• Metropolitan Medical Response System: $40 million, the same as the President's request and $1 million below 2009, to help high-threat communities respond to mass casualty incidents.
   

• Interoperable Communications: $50 million, the same as the President's request and 2009, for firefighters and emergency responders to talk to each other during a crisis.
   

• Emergency Operations Centers: $40 million, $5 million above 2009 and not requested by the President, to equip and upgrade central command facilities used by emergency personnel during disasters.

SETTING IMMIGRATION PRIORITIES

Immigration and Customs Enforcement:  $5.4 billion, $30 million below the President's request and $439 million above 2009, including:

• $1.5 billion to identify dangerous criminal aliens and prioritize these individuals for removal once an immigration judge order them deported;
   

• $200 million for Secure Communities, a pilot program that allows local law enforcement to check fingerprints of people booked on criminal charges for immigration and criminal records; and
   

• $74 million for Alternatives to Detention, $10 million above the request, to expand this program nation-wide.
   

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services: $248 million, $116 million below the President's request and $110 million above 2009 including $100 million for processing refugee applications and asylum claims and $112 million to operate and improve E-Verify, and $11 million to expand immigrant integration and outreach efforts to welcome new Americans.  Reductions were made as the Department's data centers are not ready for full operation and as it will take at least a year for the Administration to discontinue the refugees/asylee surcharge.  Military naturalization costs will be paid for by the Department of Defense.

COMBATING SOUTHWEST BORDER VIOLENCE

Customs and Border Protection: $10 billion, $82 million below the President's request and $147 million above 2009.  Reductions were made for data center migration and to provide slightly less than the increases requested in a variety of programs. Funding within the $10 billion includes:

• $692 million for Southwest Border investments for Border Security Fencing, Infrastructure, and Technology (BSFIT), compared to $735 million in 2009 and $759.5 million in the request. This appropriation brings BSFIT funding for the Southwest Border to $4.3 billion since the program began in 2006. The Economic Recovery Act included $160 million in CBP for SW Border security technology and Border Patrol tactical communications.

• $3.5 billion to fully fund 20,019 Border Patrol agents, of whom over 17,000 will be based on the Southwest Border - an increase of 6,000 or more than 50 percent, since 2006.

• $26.1 million for Southwest Border counterdrug initiatives, including $10 million for additional scanning systems for southbound lanes.

• $8 million to expand airplanes, helicopters and UAVs to interdict cartel drug smuggling.

• 269 new staff, including: 44 Border Patrol agents, 64 CBP Officers and 16 support staff to enhance Southwest Border counterdrug enforcement; 144 pilots and mission support staff to expand CBP Air and Marine surveillance and patrol for border security, homeland security, and counterdrug missions.

ICE: $97.8 million for ICE to combat international trade in illicit drugs, weapons smuggling and crimes associated with violence along the Southwest Border.    This is part of a $124 million increase over 2009 for ICE investigations and $27.8 million more than the President's request.  Funding includes:

• $70 million, as requested, to expand operations related to Southwest border violence by initiating more ICE investigations, intelligence activities, and international programs

• $10 million above the request for investigations of transnational gangs;

• $10 million above the request for investigations of cross-border weapons smuggling;

• $5 million above the request for drug smuggling investigations; and

• $2.8 million above the request to expand human smuggling and trafficking investigations.

Operation Stonegarden: $60 million for a grant program to assist border communities with law enforcement costs, the same as 2009.

Northern Border Security

• $40 million, the same as the President's request and 2009, in BSFIT for additional investments in Northern Border security technology.

• $140 million for CBP's Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, $4.9 million below the request and just above 2009, to deploy technology and infrastructure at the 46 busiest border ports of entry and facilitate travel and security for all travelers, including for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

• The Economic Recovery Act included $420 million to upgrade and replace over 30 CBP ports of entry, mostly on the Northern Border.

Coast Guard: $9.97 billion (including mandatory funding), $240 million above the President's request and $607 million above 2009, to improve our port security and marine safety, help stop the flow of illegal drugs into this country, and improve the oversight of Coast Guard finances. Of this total, $1.3 billion is specifically for the Coast Guard's efforts for maritime narcotics enforcement, $5.7 million above the President's request and $63 million above 2009.

Maritime Security, Safety and Environmental Protection

• $250 million for port security grants, the same as the President's request and $150 million below 2009. The Economic Recovery Act provided $150 million for these grants.

• $1.9 billion, $137 million above 2009, for Coast Guard maritime activities, including additional marine inspectors and investigators and biometrics at sea. $5 million is provided above the request to address priority cutter maintenance needs.

Transportation Security Administration: $7.7 billion, $84 million below the President's request and $712 million above 2009, including:

• $1 billion in discretionary and mandatory funding to purchase and install explosive detection systems at airports nationwide, $56 million below the President's request and $506 million above 2009. The Economic Recovery Act provided $700 million for like activities.

• $61 million for surface transportation security inspectors, $25 million below the President's request and $36 million above 2009, due to a long delay in hiring previously funded inspectors. Funding will be used to form more enforcement teams.

Air Cargo and Cargo Container Security

• $123 million for TSA to meet the 100-percent air cargo security screening mandate by August 2010, required by the 9/11 Act, $15 million above the President's request and the same as 2009.

• $804 million for CBP and the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office to develop and deploy systems to screen cargo for weapons or nuclear precursor materials, $3 million below the request and $155 million below 2009. The Economic Recovery Act included $100 million for new inspection technology at ports of entry.

• $162 million to continue CBP's implementation of pilot and overseas container security programs, $3.4 million below the request and $12.5 million above 2009.

• $2.8 million and 20 CBP Officers to enhance targeting of dangerous goods and people.

Cyber Security: $382 million to address the growing threats to our nation's cyber assets.  DHS leads efforts to strengthen Federal civilian computer networks against attack by consolidating internet access points and deploying network-based sensors to monitor for illegitimate intrusions, $68 million above 2009 and $19 million below the President's request.  In addition, a total of $19.5 million is provided within Science and Technology to research next generation technologies to deal with cyber attacks, the same level as requested.

FEMA Management:  $935 million, $32 million above the President's request and $8 million below 2009 for response and surge capabilities and increased permanent staffing. 

Disaster Relief:  $2 billion, matching the President's request and $600 million above 2009, including $16 million to continue IG's work auditing FEMA disaster programs, including in the Gulf Coast. 

Flood Map Modernization:  $220 million to continue map modernization and to maintain modernized flood maps.

Emergency Food and Shelter:  $200 million, $100 million above the President's request and equal to 2009, to address the increasing needs for food and shelter of our citizens in this time of economic downturn.

United States Secret Service: $1.5 billion, $28 million below the President's request and $48 million above 2009 to continue 354 positions provided in the 2009 omnibus appropriations act, and to secure the Service's mission-critical computer applications.

Federal Law Enforcement Training Center: $283 million, the same as the President's request and $50 million below last year, reduced because last year funded a new dormitory.

Science and Technology:  $968 million, $35 million above 2009, for research on improvised explosive devices, next generation technologies to enhance cyber security, improved biological sensors, and increased investment in technologies for first responders.

REAL ID:  $75 million, the same as the President's request and $25 million below 2009, to help states to comply with REAL ID, which requires state licenses to meet new standards in order to be used for federal identification purposes.   Of this total, $50 million is for Real ID grants, the same as 2009, and $25 million is for Real ID HUB.

Office of the Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding: $2 million, the same as the President's request and $100,000 above 2009, to continue to operate the Office of the Federal Coordinator at the Department of Homeland Security

CUTS:

Domestic Nuclear Detection Office: No funding is provided to procure radiological/nuclear detection equipment because there are large carry-over balances exceeding $100 million and there are delays in certifying next-generation detection machines.

DHS Departmental Operations: Cut $135 million due to staffing vacancies, redundant policy initiatives, and poorly justified request to consolidate DHS headquarters for those agencies not moving to St. Elizabeths.

Program Eliminations: Cuts $407 million by eliminating funding for programs such as: Advanced spectroscopic portal monitors, trucking industry security grants, commercial equipment direct assistance program, regional catastrophic preparedness grants, and candidate protection.

Data Center Migration: $180 million saved by deferring action on a move for databases and information processing systems which GAO has determined is premature and risky at this time.

National Bio and Agro-defense Facility: $36 million not funded until a risk assessment determines whether foot-and-mouth disease can be studied safely on the U.S. mainland.

POLICY:

Federal Protective Service:  Denies the transfer of FPS from ICE to the National Protection and Programs Directorate and directs the Department to provide a transition plan that outlines the steps it will take to move FPS from ICE to NPPD.  Requires DHS to maintain a FPS in-service field staff of at least 900 to protect Federal buildings.

Oversight:  Expenditure plans, important to ensure that DHS is appropriately planning, are required for the following programs:  Deepwater; the Security Border Initiative; the Automated Commercial Environment; US-VISIT; National Cyber Security; National Command and Coordination Capability; BioWatch; and Next Generation Networks.

Principal Federal Official Positions: Limited to eliminate confusion in the field as these positions overlap with traditional FEMA roles.

LORAN-C: Rejects termination of LORAN-C and denies the authority to sell existing LORAN-C sites, as proposed by the President.

E-Verify: Includes a 2-year extension of E-Verify.