House DHS Subcommittee Unveils FY24 Funding Recommendations; Key Airport Priorities Addressed
May 17, 2023
The House Appropriations Committee recently unveiled its proposed Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its component agencies, including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). In total, the bill provides $62.8 billion in discretionary funding for DHS, $2.1 billion above the FY23 enacted level.
While much of the bill is focused on securing the southern border, removing dangerous criminals, and national security priorities, there are important wins for airports, particularly within TSA. Notable recommendations contained in the draft bill include:
• $111 million to restore funding for TSA personnel to monitor exit lanes at airports instead of shifting these costs to airports,
• $45.9 million for the law enforcement officer reimbursement grants that TSA had proposed for elimination,
• $34.1 million for the state and local-led canine teams, reimbursements that TSA had proposed to eliminate, and
• $105.4 million for computed tomography systems to screen carry-on baggage at passenger checkpoints, instead of decreasing these investments by one-third.
Transportation Security Administration:
In total, the House recommends $10.7 billion for TSA, which is $1.34 billion above FY23 and $128.4 million below the request. The bill does not fully fund the requested pay raise for all TSA employees. Instead, it provides $856 million to fund pay increases for Transportation Security Officers and includes a provision that prohibits the agency from funding pay reforms for any other TSA employees in FY24. Also, the bill does not allocate all aviation security fees collected directly to TSA instead of some being required for deficit reduction. For appropriators to have access to these fees, Congress would first need to enact a legislative fix to end the fee diversion, which has not occurred.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection:
In total, the House recommends $19.9 billion for CBP, an increase of $3.2 billion above FY23 and $3.1 billion above the request. Most of this funding is focused on border security and it is unclear from the Subcommittee summary documents if the 150 new CBP officers requested for FY24 are included in the funding recommendation.
What's Next?
The Subcommittee is scheduled to mark up the legislation tomorrow at 10:00 am and we will keep you updated on the bill's progress. Links to the House FY 2024 DHS Appropriations bill and press release can be found here.
More funding details about TSA and CBP priorities will be contained in the Subcommittee report, which is not released until 24 hours before the full Appropriations Committee considers the FY24 DHS bill. While that date has not been set, we expect it to occur next week.
