Senate committee adds money for DHS budget

Senate committee adds money for DHS budget The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved the fiscal 2009 budget for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including $400 million for port security grants and funding for 682 additional Customs officers.
   The overall bill totals $41.3 billion, $2.5 billion above President Bush’s flat budget request of $38.9 billion and 6 percent, or $2.6 billion, above the 2008 appropriation.
   The Bush administration only requested $210 million for the Port Security Grant program.
   DHS has provided almost $1.5 billion in port security grants since 2003, although the national association representing ports has complained that the Bush administration and Republicans in Congress underfunded a program that it believes requires $400 million per year to meet port needs. Congressional Democrats were able to increase the appropriation for fiscal 2008 to $400 million after President Bush proposed $210 million for the program, as he did this year.
   Appropriators approved funding for Customs and Border Protection that is $381 million more than the approved fiscal 2008 level and about $254 million more than the president’s request of $10.9 billion. The money includes $403.2 million for construction of Border Patrol facilities and repairs to land border ports of entry, which CBP officials have stressed need hundreds of millions of dollars worth of modernization and expansion to handle rising traffic volumes. The 682 new Customs officers funded by the bill are 143 more than called for in the administration’s budget.
   The Transportation Security Administration is slated to receive $4.28 billion, $211 million above the president’s request. Another $971.3 million is budgeted to implement last year’s 9/11 Commission Implementation Act, $250.4 million above the budget request and $30 million over the enacted level for this year.
   The bill provides $123 million for air cargo security, $18 million more than the White House request and $50 million more than enacted for the current fiscal year.
   The committee also added $145 million more to the Coast Guard’s $9.2 billion budget for 328 new positions, as well as coastal patrol and quick response boats. And it added $12 million to the president’s request of $63 million for enforcing chemical security standards.
   The bill includes language to preclude DHS from using funds to reorganize the department without approval by Congress. The move pulls back authority granted to the department in the Homeland Security Act of 2002, and used nine times, to reorganize functions without approval. Lawmakers said that repeated reorganizations impede the department’s effectiveness.
   The House Appropriations Committee last week passed its version of the DHS budget. The House bill includes funding for 1,273 new Customs officers at airports and land borders and 100 additional agricultural specialists. It also funds the Port Security Grant program at $400 million.
   Both sides of Congress must now conference to produce a uniform DHS appropriations bill.