House Passes Omnibus Appropriations Bill With DHS/TSA/CBP Funding

March 22, 2024

On March 22, the House of Representatives passed, by a vote of 286-134, the $1.2 trillion omnibus appropriations bill under suspension of the rules, which required a two-thirds majority vote. The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration, with the hope of final passage this evening before the current continuing resolution expires at 11:59 p.m. While both the House and Senate are scheduled to begin a two-week recess today--a powerful incentive to move the legislation quickly--some Senators want to offer amendments to the omnibus spending bill, which could delay the final vote until sometime this weekend.
 
As we reported on March 21, the omnibus appropriations bill includes $61.8 billion for the Department of Homeland Security, including funding for TSA and CBP. On the positive side, the bill includes funding for additional Transportation Security Officers and 300 new CBP Officers, pay equity for all TSA employees, and TSA exit lane staff at airports. Also, the bill continues statutory language requiring members of Congress and other federal officials to abide by passenger and baggage screening requirements and prohibits any funding to be used to alter this requirement. While this is positive for TSA, the airport escort amendment included in the Senate Commerce Committee passed FAA reauthorization legislation, S. 1939, permits TSA to shift these costs and responsibilities to airports. The appropriations bill does not address that.
 
Unfortunately, the bill does not include funding for LEO reimbursement grants, support for state and local-led canine teams, or reimbursements for explosive detection systems purchased by some airports before 2007. The bill also significantly reduces funding for security screening technologies, like computed tomography and credential authentication. Lastly, the bill does not include any new direction on TSA's aviation worker screening requirement.
 
While some news sources are reporting that the bill ends the aviation security fee diversion, that is incorrect. The omnibus appropriations bill reduces the amount of fees diverted to deficit reduction by half—from $1.56 billion to $760 million—for fiscal year 2024 only.