Omnibus Appropriations Act Ramps Up CBP Resources $715 Million From FY13 Levels
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014 funds the government through $1.012 trillion in discretionary spending for Fiscal Year 2014 (FY14), allocating $46.6 billion for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with $10.58 billion in appropriations for CBP, according to a legislation summary (here) released by the Senate Appropriations Committee majority leadership on Jan. 13. Those figures mark a DHS budgetary increase of $1.14 billion above the post-sequestration funding level for FY13 and a $715 million increase for CBP, the summary said. The legislation allocates funding for the following notable functions, according to the summary:
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- Funds 21,370 Border Patrol agents, sustaining the increased levels approved in the fiscal year 2010 Border Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, sustains 21,775 CBP officers currently working at our 329 ports of entry today, and funds 2,000 new CBP officers to be hired through fiscal year 2015.
- Adds $90.6 million above the request for Air and Marine operations and procurement of critical assets to defend our borders, including enhanced radar for unmanned aircraft systems. The increase will restore a 29 percent cut to flight hours, said the summary.
- Adds $10 million above the request for trusted traveler programs such as additional Global Entry kiosks, more mobile document readers, expanding the integrated traveler process, and expanding activities at existing preclearance locations, as well as for border transformation programs such as the land border integration effort and the port runner/absconder program.
The omnibus bill also creates a CBP pilot program to test the value of public and private partnerships geared toward developing new CBP facilities and modernizing other needs at the ports of entry. The program would also allow CBP to enter into reimbursable agreements for additional CBP services at ports of entry and enables CBP to accept donations under certain circumstances.
The act is an amendment to the text of HR-3547 (here), introduced in the House in November. Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., and House Hal Rogers, R-Ky., forged the agreement and act as co-sponsors, along with their respective ranking members. The bill is the first appropriations legislation to consolidate all 12 appropriations bills since 2011, said Mikulski in a statement (here).
In Commerce Department appropriations, the legislation aims to promote U.S. exports by providing $115.5 million for the Export-Import Bank, according to the summary, along with $89.9 million for the Overseas Private Investment Corporation administrative and program accounts and $55.1 million for the Trade and Development Agency. The legislation funds the International Trade Administration at $470 million, $20 million more than the fiscal year 2013 sequester level. The bill also provides funding for SelectUSA, and supports the Interagency Trade Enforcement Center, according to the summary.
Regarding other trade related allocations, the legislation provides the Interior Department’s Consumer Product Safety Commission $118 million, as well as bill $298 million for the Federal Trade Commission to detect and eliminate illegal collusion, prevent anticompetitive mergers, combat consumer fraud, fight identity theft, and promote consumer privacy, said the summary. In Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations, the legislation includes $41 billion for the Federal-aid Highway program, maintaining consistency with the funding level authorized in the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act.