Department of Homeland Security Appropriations: FY2020
Released: 2020-01-21T00:00:00

Introduction

This report describes and analyzes annual appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for FY2020. It compares the enacted FY2019 appropriations for DHS, the Donald J. Trump Administration's FY2020 budget request, and the appropriations measures developed and ultimately enacted in response to it. This report identifies additional informational resources, reports, and products on DHS appropriations that provide context for the discussion. A list of Congressional Research Service (CRS) policy experts with whom congressional clients may consult on specific topics may be found in CRS Report R42638, Appropriations: CRS Experts .

The suite of CRS reports on homeland security appropriations tracks legislative action and congressional issues related to DHS appropriations, with particular attention paid to discretionary funding amounts. These reports do not provide in-depth analysis of specific issues related to mandatory fundingâsuch as retirement payânor do they systematically follow other legislation related to the authorizing or amending of DHS programs, activities, or fee revenues.

Discussion of appropriations legislation involves a variety of specialized budgetary concepts. The Appendix to this report explains several of these concepts, including budget authority, obligations, outlays, discretionary and mandatory spending, offsetting collections, allocations, and adjustments to the discretionary spending caps under the Budget Control Act (BCA; P.L. 112-25 ). A more complete discussion of those terms and the appropriations process in general can be found in CRS Report R42388, The Congressional Appropriations Process: An Introduction , coordinated by James V. Saturno, and the Government Accountability Office's A Glossary of Terms Used in the Federal Budget Process .

Note on Data and Citations

All amounts contained in CRS reports on homeland security appropriations represent budget authority. For precision in percentages and totals, all calculations in these reports use unrounded data, which are presented in each report's tables. Amounts in narrative discussions may be rounded to the nearest million (or 10 million, in the case of numbers larger than 1 billion), unless noted otherwise.

Data used in this report for FY2019 annual appropriations are derived from the conference report accompanying P.L. 116-6 , the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019. Division A of P.L. 116-6 is the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2019. FY2019 supplemental appropriations data are drawn directly from two enacted measures: P.L. 116-20 , the Additional Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2019, which included funding for response and recovery from a range of natural disasters; and P.L. 116-26 , the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Humanitarian Assistance and Security at the Southern Border Act, 2019, which included funding for security and humanitarian needs at the U.S.-Mexico border. Data for the FY2020 requested levels and House Appropriations Committee-recommended levels of annual appropriations are drawn from H.Rept. 116-180 , which accompanied H.R. 3931 . Data for the Senate Appropriations Committee-recommended levels of annual appropriations are drawn from S.Rept. 116-125 , which accompanied S. 2582 . Data for the FY2020 enacted levels are drawn from the explanatory statement accompanying P.L. 116-93 , Division D of which is the FY2020 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act.

Scoring methodology is consistent across this report, relying on data provided by the Appropriations Committees that has been developed with Congressional Budget Office (CBO) methodology. CRS does not attempt to compare this data with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) data because technical scoring differences at times do not allow precise comparisons.

Note: Previous CRS reports on DHS appropriations at times used OMB data on mandatory spending for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Secret Service that was not listed in appropriations committee documentationâfor consistency, OMB data on mandatory spending is no longer included in this report.

Legislative Action on FY2020 DHS Appropriations

This section provides an overview of the legislative process thus far for appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for FY2020, from the Administration's initial request, through enactment of annual appropriations in Division D of P.L. 116-93 .

Annual Appropriations

Trump Administration FY2020 Request

On March 18, 2019, the Trump Administration released its detailed budget request for FY2020. A lapse in FY2019 annual appropriations from December 22, 2018, until January 25, 2019, delayed the full budget proposal's release past the first Monday in February, the deadline outlined in the Budget Act of 1974.

The Trump Administration requested $51.68 billion in adjusted net discretionary budget authority for DHS for FY2020, as part of an overall budget that the Office of Management and Budget estimated to be $92.08 billion (including fees, trust funds, and other funding that is not annually appropriated or does not score against discretionary budget limits). The request amounted to a $2.27 billion (4.6%) increase from the $49.41 billion in annual net discretionary budget authority in appropriations enacted for FY2019 through the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2019 ( P.L. 116-6 , Division A).

The Trump Administration also requested discretionary funding that does not count against discretionary spending limits set by the Budget Control Act (BCA; P.L. 112-25 ) for two DHS components and is not reflected in the above totals. The Administration requested an additional $14.08 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in disaster relief funding, as defined by the BCA, and in the budget request for the Department of Defense, $190 million in Overseas Contingency Operations/Global War on Terror designated funding (OCO), to be transferred to the Coast Guard from the Navy.

House Committee Action

On June 11, 2019, the House Appropriations Committee marked up H.R. 3931 , the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2020. H.Rept. 116-180 was filed on July 24, 2019. As reported by the committee, H.R. 3931 included $52.80 billion in adjusted net discretionary budget authority. This was $1.12 billion (2.2%) above the level requested by the Administration, and $3.39 billion (6.9%) above the enacted level of annual appropriations for FY2019.

The House committee bill included $14.08 billion in disaster relief-designated funding, reflecting the level in the Administration's modified request, and the House Appropriations Committee-reported Defense Appropriations bill included OCO funding to be transferred to the Coast Guard. As a result of amendments adopted in full committee markup, the initial CBO scoring of the bill exceeded the subcommittee allocation by more than $3 billion. (CBO later revised the scoring of those provisions to $1.9 billion.)

Senate Committee Action

On September 26, 2019, the Senate Appropriations Committee marked up S. 2582 , its version of the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2020. S.Rept. 116-125 was filed the same day. As reported by the committee, S. 2582 included $53.18 billion in adjusted net discretionary budget authority. This was $1.50 billion (2.9%) above the level requested by the Administration, and $3.77 billion (7.6%) above the enacted annual level for FY2019. Much of this latter increase was due to the inclusion of $5 billion in funding for border barrier construction as opposed to $1.38 billion in the FY2019 act. Both the House and Senate committees included more discretionary funding for the Coast Guard, Transportation Security Administration, and FEMA than had been requested by the Administration.

The Senate committee bill also included $17.35 billion of disaster relief-designated fundingâ$3.28 billion (23.3%) more than the Administration's modified requestâand $190 million in OCO-designated funding for the Coast Guard.

Continuing Resolution

No annual appropriations for FY2020 had been enacted by late September as FY2019 was drawing to a close, so on September 27, 2019, Congress passed a continuing resolution (CR) ( P.L. 116-59 ), temporarily extending funding at the FY2019 rate for operations through November 21. This CR was subsequently extended through December 20.

P.L. 116-59 included four provisions specifically addressing needs of DHS under a CR:

Section 132 provides a special apportionment of CR funds to cover Secret Service expenses related to the FY2020 presidential campaign; Section 133 allows for an accelerated rate of apportionment for the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) to ensure that the programs it funds can be carried out; Section 134 extends the authorization for the National Flood Insurance Program to issue new policies; and Section 135 allows funds to be allocated in accordance with a planned restructuring of some DHS management activities.

In addition, Section 101(6) extends by reference some immigration provisions that have been linked to the appropriations cycle.

For further information on the FY2020 continuing resolutions, see CRS Report R45982, Overview of Continuing Appropriations for FY2020 (P.L. 116-59) .

Enactment

On December 16, 2019, the text and explanatory statements for two consolidated appropriations bills were released on the House Rules Committee website. One, which used H.R. 1158 as a legislative shell, included four appropriations measures, including the FY2020 DHS annual appropriations measure as Division D. Division D included $50.47 billion in adjusted net discretionary budget authority. This was $1.22 billion (2.4%) below the level requested by the Administration, and $1.06 billion (2.1%) above the enacted annual level for FY2019. The act included $17.35 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in disaster relief funding, as defined by the Budget Control Act ( P.L. 112-25 ; BCA), and $190 million in Overseas Contingency Operations designated funding (OCO) in an appropriation to the Coast Guard.

The House passed the measure by a vote of 280-138 on December 17, and the Senate did so by a vote of 81-11 on December 19. The bill was signed into law of December 20, 2019, and enacted as P.L. 116-93 .

Summary of DHS Appropriations

Generally, the homeland security appropriations bill includes all annual appropriations provided for DHS, allocating resources to every departmental component. Discretionary appropriations provide roughly two-thirds to three-fourths of the annual funding for DHS operations, depending how one accounts for disaster relief spending and funding for OCO. The remainder of the budget is a mix of fee revenues, trust funds, and mandatory spending.

Annual appropriations measures for DHS typically have been organized into five titles. The first four are thematic groupings of components, while the fifth provides general direction to the department, and sometimes includes provisions providing additional budget authority.

The DHS Common Appropriations Structure (CAS)

When DHS was established in 2003, components of other agencies were brought together over a matter of months, in the midst of ongoing budget cycles. Rather than developing a new structure of appropriations for the entire department, Congress and the Administration continued to provide resources through existing account structures when possible.

At the direction of Congress, in 2014 DHS began to work on a new Common Appropriations Structure (CAS), which would standardize the format of DHS appropriations across components. In an interim report in 2015, DHS noted that operating with "over 70 different appropriations and over 100 Programs, Projects, and Activities ... has contributed to a lack of transparency, inhibited comparisons between programs, and complicated spending decisions and other managerial decision-making."

After several years of work and negotiations with Congress, DHS made its first budget request in the CAS for FY2017, and implemented it while operating under a CR in October 2016. Under the CAS, legacy appropriations structures were largely converted to a four-category structure:

1. Operations and Support , which covers operating salaries and expenses; 2. Procurement , Construction, and Improvements , which funds planning, operational development, engineering, purchase, and deployment of assets to support component missions; 3. Research and Development , which provides resources needed to identify, explore, and demonstrate new technologies and capabilities to support component missions; and 4. Federal Assistance , which supports grant funding managed by DHS components.

All components have an Operations and Support (O&S) appropriation. All operational components and some support and headquarters components have a Procurement, Construction, and Improvements (PC&I) appropriation. Research and Development (R&D) appropriations are even less common, and only FEMA, the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office (CWMD), and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have federal assistance appropriations.

Even with the implementation of the CAS structure, some appropriations are not included in those four categories:

Federal Protective Service: The Federal Protective Service, which has been a part of several different components of DHS, does not have an appropriation of an explicit amount. Rather, the appropriations measure has language directing that funds credited to the FPS account may be spent by FPS to carry out its mission. It therefore has a net-zero impact on the total net discretionary spending in the bill. USCG's Retired Pay: The Coast Guard's Retired Pay appropriation supports the costs of the USCG retired personnel entitlements, including pensions, Survivor Benefits Plans, and medical care of retired USCG personnel and their dependents. This appropriation is categorized as appropriated mandatory spending: while the U.S. government has a legal obligation to make these payments, there is no permanent statutory mechanism in place to provide the funds. Because the government is required to make these payments, the Retired Pay appropriation does not count against the discretionary allocation of the bill. FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) receives a separate appropriation for its activities authorized under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. Â§5121 et seq.). This allows for more consistent tracking of FEMA's disaster assistance spending over time, and ensures more transparency into the availability of funds for disaster assistance versus FEMA's other grant activities, which are funded through the Federal Assistance appropriation. FEMA's National Flood Insurance Fund: The National Flood Insurance Program is largely mandatory spending. However, some program functions, including mission support, floodplain management, and flood mapping, are paid for through discretionary appropriations. Certain other program costs are paid for by fees collected by the government, which requires appropriations language to allow those resources to be spent. These include: Operating expenses and salaries and expenses associated with flood insurance operations; Commissions and taxes of agents; Interest on borrowings from the Treasury; and Flood mitigation actions and flood mitigation assistance.

Administrative and General Provisions

Prior to the FY2017 act, the provisos accompanying many appropriations included directions to components or specific conditions on how the budget authority it provided could be used. Similarly, general provisions provided directions or conditions to one or more components. In the FY2017 act, a number of these provisions within appropriations and component-specific general provisions were grouped at the ends of the titles where their targeted components are funded, and identified as "administrative provisions." This practice has continued in subsequent years.

This report tracks changes in administrative and general provisions compared to the baseline of the prior year's enacted measure, noting provisions dropped, added, and modified. These changes from the baseline may take place for a variety of reasons. Due to the passage of time or enactment of permanent legislation, a provision may require adjustment or lose its relevance. Other provisions are the priority of members in one chamber or another, and as the enacted bill represents a compromise between those positions, the bills developed by a one chamber may not necessarily reflect the other chamber's priorities.

DHS Appropriations: Summary by Component Type

The following sections of the report discuss the appropriations provided for the department by type of component. It groups the 15 components of DHS into the following structure:

Law Enforcement Operational Components (funded in Title II) U.S. Customs and Border Protection Immigration and Customs Enforcement Transportation Security Administration U.S. Coast Guard U.S. Secret Service Incident Response and Recovery Operational Components (Title III) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Federal Emergency Management Agency Support Components (Title IV) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Science and Technology Directorate Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office Headquarters Components (Title I) Office of the Secretary and Executive Management Departmental Management Directorate Analysis and Operations Office of Inspector General

Each group's and component's role is briefly described below, and their FY2019 enacted and FY2020 requested, recommended, and enacted appropriations are presented in tables arranged by grouped components. After each funding table, a brief analysis of selected administrative provisions for that group is provided.

Law Enforcement Operational Components

Funding for law enforcement operational components is generally provided in Title II of the annual DHS appropriations act. This is the largest title of the bill, although not all of DHS's largest components are included in it.

Components and Missions

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) : CBP is responsible for securing America's borders, coastlines, and ports of entry, preventing the illegal entry of persons and goods while facilitating lawful travel, trade, and immigration.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE): ICE is the principal criminal investigative agency within DHS, and is charged with preventing terrorism and combating the illegal movement of people and goods.

Transportation Security Administration (TSA): TSA provides security for the U.S. transportation system while ensuring the free and secure movement of people and goods.

U.S. Coast Guard (USCG): The USCG is the principal federal agency responsible for maritime safety, security, and environmental stewardship in U.S. ports and inland waterways. The USCG is a hybrid of a law enforcement agency, regulatory agency, and first responder, as well as being a component of DHS, the intelligence community, and of the U.S. Armed Forces.

U.S. Secret Service (USSS): The USSS is responsible for protecting the President, the Vice-President, their families and residences, past Presidents and their spouses, national and world leaders visiting the United States, designated buildings (including the White House and Vice President's Residence), and special events of national significance. The USSS also investigates and enforces laws related to counterfeiting and certain financial crimes.

Table 1 includes a breakdown of budgetary resources provided to these components controlled through appropriations legislation.

Administrative Provisions

H.R. 3931 as reported by the House Appropriations Committee had 31 administrative provisions for Title II, 21 of which were unchanged from FY2019. The House committee bill dropped eight provisions which were in the FY2019 act, including

Section 208 , which allowed ICE to reprogram funding to maintain detention of aliens that were prioritized for removal; Section 214 , which mandated TSA continue to monitor airport exit lanes; Section 223 , which allowed USCG to allocate its OCO funding within the Operations and Support appropriation; Section 225 , which authorized a TSA pilot program for screening services at locations other than primary passenger terminals; Section 227 , which requires the USCG maintain the mission and staffing of its Operations Systems Center; Section 228 , which prohibited competitions to privatize activities of the USCG National Vessel Documentation Center; Section 229 , which allowed funds in the bill to alter activities of the USCG Civil Engineering program, but not reduce them; and Section 232 , which required DHS collaboration with local governments on siting border barriers within their jurisdictions.

Three previously carried administrative provisions were modified, and seven new provisions were added.

S. 2582 as reported by the Senate Appropriations Committee, had 33 administrative provisions in Title II. Only one provision was dropped from the FY2019 actâSection 225, described above. One previously carried provision was modified and three new provisions were added.

P.L. 116-93 , Div. D, includes 36 administrative provisions in Title II. Sections 225 and 232 from the FY2019 act were dropped, four provisions were modified, and six new administrative provisions were included.

Modified administrative provisions are outlined in Table 2 , while new administrative provisions proposed or included by the appropriations committees are outlined in Table 3 .

Incident Response and Recovery Operational Components

Funding for operational components which are focused on incident response and recovery is generally found in Title III of the annual DHS appropriations act. It includes funding for FEMA, which has the largest budget of any DHS componentâan appropriated budget largely driven by disaster programs authorized under the Stafford Act, and an overall budget which also includes non-appropriated funding for the National Flood Insurance Program. Title III also includes funding for the newly restructured Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), formerly the National Protection and Programs Directorate. The reorganization included a shift of the Federal Protective Service from CISA to the Management Directorate, reducing the gross budgetary resources in this title.

Components and Missions

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA): Formerly known as the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD), CISA promotes information sharing to build resilience and mitigate risk from cyber and physical threats to infrastructure, and leads cross-government cybersecurity initiatives.

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA): FEMA leads the federal government's efforts to reduce the loss of life and property and protect the United States from all hazards, including natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other disasters through a risk-based, comprehensive emergency management system of preparedness, protection, response, recovery, and mitigation.

Table 4 includes a breakdown of budgetary resources for these components controlled through appropriations legislation. As some annually appropriated resources were provided for FEMA from outside Title III in FY2019, by transfer and by appropriation, a separate line is included for FEMA showing a total for what is provided solely within Title III, then the non-Title III funding, followed by the total annual appropriation for FEMA. The table only reflects the impact of transfers in the discretionary funding and budgetary resource totals.

Administrative Provisions

H.R. 3931 as reported by the House Appropriations Committee had eight administrative provisions in Title III, five of which were unchanged from FY2019. Two provisions were dropped from the FY2019 act: Section 301, which required a report on revised methods to assess and allocate costs for countermeasures used by the Federal Protective Service; and Section 309, which raised the federal share of costs for essential assistance and debris removal for wildfire major disasters declared in calendar year 2018 from 75% to 90%. Two previously carried administrative provisions were modified, and one new provision was added, which would allow governors to resubmit and FEMA to reconsider requests for Stafford Act individual assistance for certain disasters.

S. 2582 as reported by the Senate Appropriations Committee had six administrative provisions in Title III. The Senate Appropriations Committee chose to drop three administrative provisions from this title that were included in the FY2019 actâthe two described above, and Section 307, which provided certain waivers for SAFER Act grants. No previously carried provisions were substantively modified and no new provisions were added.

P.L. 116-93, Div. D, includes seven administrative provisions in Title III. Sections 301 and 309 from the FY2019 act as described above were dropped, two provisions were modified, and the new provision proposed in the House Appropriations Committee bill was not included.

Modified administrative provisions are tracked in Table 5 .

Support Components

Funding for support components is generally found in Title IV of the annual DHS appropriations bill. The relatively small size of some of these appropriations makes changes in their funding appear more significant if expressed on a percentage basis.

Components and Missions

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS): USCIS administers U.S. immigration laws that govern temporary admission and permanent immigration to the United States.

Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC): FLETC is a technical training school for law enforcement professionals, meeting the basic and specialized training needs of approximately 100 federal agencies, as well as state and local organizations.

Science and Technology Directorate (S&T): S&T leads and coordinates research, development, testing, and evaluation work for DHS, and supports departmental acquisitions.

Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office (CWMD): CWMD leads DHS's efforts to develop and enhance programs and capabilities that defend against weapons of mass destruction, and includes the Department's Chief Medical Officer, who serves as the principal advisor to DHS leadership on medical and public health issues.

Table 6 includes a breakdown of budgetary resources provided to these components controlled through appropriations legislation.

Administrative Provisions

H.R. 3931 as reported by the House Appropriations Committee included eight administrative provisions in Title IV, six of which were unchanged from FY2019. It dropped two: Section 402, which barred USCIS from providing immigration benefits unless it had received a background check that did not preclude providing such a benefit; and Section 408, which provided budgetary flexibility to support the transfer of the National Bio- and Agrodefense Facility to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. H.R. 3931 included two new provisions.

S. 2582 as reported by the Senate Appropriations Committee had nine administrative provisions in Title IV. The Senate Appropriations Committee chose to drop one provision from this title that was included in the FY2019 actâSection 408, described above. No previously carried provisions were substantively modified and two new provisions were added.

P.L. 116-93 , Div. D, includes seven administrative provisions in Title IV. Sections 402 and 408 from the FY2019 act as described above were dropped. One new provision was added.

New administrative provisions proposed or included by the appropriations committees are outlined in Table 7 .

Headquarters Components

Funding for headquarters components is traditionally found in Title I of the annual DHS appropriations act, although some initiatives have been funded in the past through general provisions.

Components and Missions

Office of the Secretary and Executive Management (OSEM): OSEM provides central leadership, management, direction and oversight for all DHS components.

Departmental Management Directorate (DM): DM provides DHS-wide mission support services.

Analysis and Operations (A&O): A&O covers two separate offices:

The Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A), which integrates and shares intelligence with DHS components and stakeholders to allow them to identify, mitigate, and respond to threats; and the Office of Operations Coordination (OPS), which provides operations coordination, information sharing, and the common operating picture for DHS, and helps ensure DHS continuity and resilience.

Office of Inspector General (OIG): The OIG is an independent, objective audit, inspection, and investigative body that reports to the Secretary and to Congress on DHS efficiency and effectiveness, and works to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse.

Table 8 provides a breakdown of the budgetary resources provided to these components controlled through appropriations legislation. As resources were requested or provided for the Management Directorate from outside Title I, separate lines are included for each of those components showing a total for what is provided solely within Title I, then the individual items funded outside the title, followed by the total annual appropriation for the components. The table only reflects the impact of transfers in the discretionary funding and budgetary resource totals.

Administrative Provisions

The title funding DHS headquarters components in H.R. 3931 (Title I) had five administrative provisions, three of which are unchanged from FY2019. Two administrative provisions were dropped: Section 101, a requirement for a monthly budget and staffing report; and Section 106, a reporting requirement on visa overstay data. One previously carried administrative provision was modified to bar the use of Treasury Forfeiture Fund resources to build border security infrastructure. One new provision was added in the House bill, to create an Immigration Detention Ombudsman.

Senate Appropriations Committee-reported S. 2582 had six administrative provisions in Title I. The Senate Appropriations Committee retained all six previously enacted provisions without substantive modifications, and no new provisions were added.

P.L. 116-93 , Div. D, includes seven administrative provisions in Title I. No provisions were dropped. The new provision proposed in the House Appropriations Committee bill creating the Immigration Detention Ombudsman was included with minor modifications.

General Provisions

As noted earlier, the fifth title of the annual DHS appropriations act contains general provisions, the impact of which may reach across the government, apply to the entire department, affect multiple components, or focus on a single activity. Most general provisions remain functionally unchanged from year to year, providing guidance to DHS or structure to DHS appropriations with little more than updates to effective dates or amounts.

The FY2019 DHS appropriations act included 40 such general provisions. H.R. 3931 , as reported by the House Appropriations Committee, carried 36 such provisions, including four added to the committee's initial draft in full committee markup. Four of the 36 were modified versions of FY2019 general provisions providing policy direction, while four were new. Six provisions carried in the FY2019 act were not retained in House committee version of H.R. 3931 :

Section 516 , which restricted transfer or release of detainees from Guantanamo Bay;

Section 518 , which restricted the use of funds in the bill to hire unauthorized workers;

Section 521 , which provided funding for financial systems modernization activities;

Section 522 , which required reductions in administrative spending from certain accounts;

Section 536 , which barred the use of funds to implement the Arms Trade Treaty prior to its ratification; and

Section 537 , which required the Administration to provide a list of spending cuts as alternatives to proposed fee increases that had not been authorized before the beginning of the budget year.

S. 2582 , as reported by the Senate Appropriations Committee, had 36 general provisions in Title V, 32 of which were unchanged from FY2019. One provision was added, and one was modified. Three provisions carried in the FY2019 act that reduced budget authority available to DHS were modified in the Senate committee's bill: the DHS-wide reduction in total Operations and Support appropriations (originally Section 522, now Section 521), and rescissions of prior-year appropriations (originally Section 538 and 539, now Section 536). Three other provisions carried in the FY2019 act were dropped:

Section 521 , which provided $51 million for DHS financial systems modernization; Section 531 , which provided $41 million in grants for local law enforcement costs for Presidential protection; and Section 535 , which prohibited using funds for a Principal Federal Official during a declared Stafford Act major disaster or emergency, with certain exceptions.

P.L. 116-93 , Div. D, included 40 general provisions in Title V. Two provisions were dropped from the FY2019 DHS Appropriations ActâSections 521 and 522 described above. No new policy-related general provisions were added, although the last four general provisions provided rescissions of various types:

Section 537 rescinds $233 million in emergency designated supplemental appropriations for CBP from P.L. 116-26 , which are reappropriated in Title II of this act; Section 538 rescinds $202 million in unobligated balances from across DHS; Section 539 rescinds almost $19 million in lapsed balances; Section 540 rescinds $300 million in unobligated balances from the Disaster Relief Fund.

Modified and new policy-related general provisions are outlined in Table 9 and Table 10 , respectively.

Spending Provisions

Some general provisions have a direct impact on the amount of funding in the bill. In FY2019, funding was included in Title V for the Financial Systems Modernization initiative and a grant program for Presidential Residence Protection costs. In this report, Financial Systems Modernization is listed with headquarters components, and it is managed by the DHS Office of the Chief Information Officer. Presidential Residence Protection Cost grants are listed with FEMA, as they manage the distribution of those funds. While H.R. 3931 included funding for Presidential Residence Protection Cost Grants, it did not include separate funding for Financial Systems Modernization. S. 2582 included no additional appropriations for any DHS activities in Title V. P.L. 116-93 , Div. D, included $41 million for Presidential Residence Protection Cost Grants in Title V.

In addition to provisions appropriating additional resources, rescissions of prior-year appropriationsâcancellations of budget authorityâthat reduce the net funding level in the bill are found in this title. For FY2019, Division A of P.L. 116-6 included $303 million in rescissions and a provision directing that $300 million of DRF unobligated balances be used to offset new DRF appropriations. For FY2020, the Administration proposed rescinding $250 million in prior-year funding from the portion of the DRF not dedicated to the costs of major disasters.

Section 536 of H.R. 3931 included $657 million in rescissions from other appropriations. The largest of these comes from CBP's PC&I appropriation for FY2019, reducing it by $601 millionâthe amount transferred to it from the Treasury's Asset Forfeiture Fund by the Trump Administration for construction of border security infrastructure.

S. 2582 included $62 million of provisions that reduced the score of the bill, the largest being a $33 million reduction in administrative costs to be made by DHS from certain operations and support appropriations.

P.L. 116-93 , Div. D, included $754 million in rescissions, including $300 million in rescissions from unobligated balances in the DRF, and $233 million in emergency-designated rescissions from CBP appropriations as part of redirecting funds provided in P.L. 116-26 for humanitarian care, critical life and safety improvements to CBP facilities, and electronic health records.

For Further Information

For additional perspectives on FY2020 DHS appropriations, see the following:

CRS Report R45972, Comparing DHS Component Funding, FY2020: In Brief ; CRS Report R44604, Trends in the Timing and Size of DHS Appropriations: In Brief ; and CRS Report R44052, DHS Budget v. DHS Appropriations: Fact Sheet .

Congressional clients also may wish to consult CRS's experts directly. Table 11 lists CRS analysts and specialists who have expertise in policy areas linked to DHS appropriations.

Appendix. Appropriations Terms and Concepts

Budget Authority, Obligations, and Outlays

Federal government spending involves a multistep process that begins with the enactment of budget authority by Congress. Federal agencies then obligate funds from enacted budget authority to pay for their activities. Finally, payments are made to liquidate those obligations; the actual payment amounts are reflected in the budget as outlays.

Budget authority is established through appropriations acts or direct spending legislation and determines the amounts that are available for federal agencies to spend. The Antideficiency Act prohibits federal agencies from obligating more funds than the budget authority enacted by Congress. Budget authority also may be indefinite in amount, as when Congress enacts appropriations providing "such sums as may be necessary" to complete a project or purpose. Budget authority may be available on a one-year, multiyear, or no-year basis. One-year budget authority is available for obligation only during a specific fiscal year; any unobligated funds at the end of that year are no longer available for spending. Multiyear budget authority specifies a range of time during which funds may be obligated for spending, and no-year budget authority is available for obligation for an indefinite period of time.

Obligations are incurred when federal agencies employ personnel, enter into contracts, receive services, and engage in similar transactions in a given fiscal yearâwhich create a legal requirement for the government to pay. Outlays are the funds that are actually spent during the fiscal year. Because multiyear and no-year budget authorities may be obligated over a number of years, outlays do not always match the budget authority enacted in a given year. Additionally, budget authority may be obligated in one fiscal year but spent in a future fiscal year, especially with certain contracts.

In sum, budget authority allows federal agencies to incur obligations and authorizes payments, or outlays, to be made from the Treasury. Discretionary funded agencies and programs, and appropriated entitlement programs, are funded each year in appropriations acts.

Discretionary and Mandatory Spending

Gross budget authority , or the total funds available for spending by a federal agency, may be composed of discretionary and mandatory spending. Discretionary spending is not mandated by existing law and is thus appropriated yearly by Congress through appropriations acts. The Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 defines discretionary appropriations as budget authority provided in annual appropriations acts and the outlays derived from that authority, but it excludes appropriations for entitlements. Mandatory spending , also known as direct spending , consists of budget authority and resulting outlays provided in laws other than appropriations acts and is typically not appropriated each year. Some mandatory entitlement programs, however, must be appropriated each year and are included in appropriations acts. Within DHS, Coast Guard retirement pay is an example of appropriated mandatory spending.

Offsetting Collections

Offsetting funds are collected by the federal government, either from government accounts or the public, as part of a business-type transaction such as collection of a fee. These funds are not considered federal revenue. Instead, they are counted as negative outlays. DHS net discretionary budget authority , or the total funds appropriated by Congress each year, is composed of discretionary spending minus any fee or fund collections that offset discretionary spending.

Some collections offset a portion of an agency's discretionary budget authority. Other collections offset an agency's mandatory spending. These mandatory spending elements are typically entitlement programs under which individuals, businesses, or units of government that meet the requirements or qualifications established by law are entitled to receive certain payments if they establish eligibility. The DHS budget features two mandatory entitlement programs: the Secret Service and the Coast Guard retired pay accounts (pensions). Some entitlements are funded by permanent appropriations, and others are funded by annual appropriations. Secret Service retirement pay is a permanent appropriation and, as such, is not annually appropriated. In contrast, Coast Guard retirement pay is annually appropriated. In addition to these entitlements, the DHS budget contains offsetting Trust and Public Enterprise Funds. These funds are not appropriated by Congress. They are available for obligation and included in the President's budget to calculate the gross budget authority.

302(a) and 302(b) Allocations

In general practice, the maximum budget authority for annual appropriations (including DHS) is determined through a two-stage congressional budget process. In the first stage, Congress sets overall spending totals in the annual concurrent resolution on the budget. Subsequently, these totals are allocated among the congressional committees, usually through the statement of managers for the conference report on the budget resolution. These amounts are known as the 302(a) allocations . They include discretionary totals available to the Committees on Appropriations for enactment in annual appropriations bills through the subcommittees responsible for the development of the bills.

In the second stage of the process, the appropriations committees allocate the 302(a) discretionary funds among their subcommittees for each of the appropriations bills. These amounts are known as the 302(b) allocations . These allocations must add up to no more than the 302(a) discretionary allocation and form the basis for enforcing budget discipline, since any bill reported with a total above the ceiling is subject to a point of order. The 302(b) allocations may be adjusted during the year by the respective appropriations committee issuing a report delineating the revised suballocations as the various appropriations bills progress toward final enactment.

Table A-1 shows comparable figures for the 302(b) allocation for FY2020, based on the adjusted net discretionary budget authority included in Division A of P.L. 116-6 , the President's request for FY2020, and the House and Senate subcommittee allocations for the Homeland Security appropriations bill for FY2020.

A series of amendments were offered and adopted in the House full committee markup of the FY2020 DHS appropriations bill that, according to CBO, put the bill $3.066 billion over its 302(b) discretionary allocation. This scoring was later revised to $1.9 billion. These provisions were not included in the final FY2020 DHS annual appropriations act.

The Budget Control Act, Discretionary Spending Caps, and Adjustments

The Budget Control Act established enforceable discretionary limits, or caps, for defense and nondefense spending for each fiscal year from FY2012 through FY2021. Subsequent legislation, including the Bipartisan Budget Acts of 2013, 2015, 2018, and 2019, amended those caps. Most of the budget for DHS is considered nondefense spending.

In addition, the Budget Control Act allows for adjustments that would raise the statutory caps to cover funding for overseas contingency operations/Global War on Terror, emergency spending, and, to a limited extent, disaster relief and appropriations for continuing disability reviews and control of health care fraud and abuse.

Three of the four justifications outlined in the Budget Control Act for adjusting the caps on discretionary budget authority have played a role in DHS's appropriations process. Two of theseâemergency spending and overseas contingency operations/Global War on Terrorâare not limited.

The third justificationâdisaster reliefâis limited. Under the Budget Control Act, the allowable adjustment for disaster relief was determined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), using the following formula until FY2019:

Limit on disaster relief cap adjustment for the fiscal year = Rolling average of the disaster relief spending over the last ten fiscal years (throwing out the high and low years) + the unused amount of the potential adjustment for disaster relief from the previous fiscal year.

The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 amended the above formula, increasing the allowable size of the adjustment by adding 5% of the amount of emergency-designated funding for major disasters under the Stafford Act, calculated by OMB as $6.296 billion. The act also extended the availability of unused adjustment capacity indefinitely, rather than having it only carry over for one year.

In August 2019, OMB released a sequestration preview report for FY2020 that provided a preview estimate of the allowable adjustment for FY2020 of $17.5 billion âthe second-largest allowable adjustment for disaster relief in the history of the mechanism. That estimate is the sum of:

the 10-year average, dropping the high and low years ($7.9 billion); 5% of the emergency-designated Stafford Act spending since 2012 ($6.6 billion); and carryover from the previous year ($3.0 billion).

The final allowable adjustment for FY2020 may still differ from this estimate.