House DHS Subcommittee Advances FY24 Spending Bill With Key Airport Funding Priorities
May 18, 2023
This morning, the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee approved, by a party-line voice vote, its Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and component agencies, including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). 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 and removing dangerous criminals, the bill includes notable recommendations for some critical airport priorities instead of shifting those costs to airports. These include restoring $111 million for TSA to monitor exit lanes at select airports, providing $45.9 million for the law enforcement officer reimbursement grant program, and providing $34.1 million for state and local-led canine teams. The bill also funds computed tomography (CT) at the FY23 level of $105.4 million to keep that program 'on track'. In addition, AAAE was able to confirm that the bill includes funding for 2,039 additional Transportation Security Officers and 150 new CBP Officers, as requested by the administration.
During his opening statement, Subcommittee Chair David Joyce (R-OH) highlighted that the bill 'provides front-line Transportation Security Officers - who ensure the safety and security of our skies - with a much-needed pay raise to provide compensation parity with other federal employees and stabilize TSA's workforce.' However, as noted in our Alert yesterday, the bill does not fund the requested pay raise for other TSA employees or collective bargaining (-$437 million) and includes a provision that prohibits the agency from funding pay reforms for these other employees in FY24. Full Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), in her opening statement, said that this 'undermines the TSA workforce.'
Subcommittee Ranking Member Henry Cuellar (D-TX) stated that while 'he supports a number of bipartisan initiatives in this bill, there are funding decisions and policy riders in the bill that he cannot support.' DeLauro also expressed strong displeasure with funding and policy decisions contained in the bill.
What's Next?
More TSA and CBP details will be contained in the House report, which is not released until 24 hours before the full Appropriations Committee considers the FY24 DHS spending bill. We expect that to occur on Wednesday, May 24, 2023.
Links to the House FY 2024 DHS Appropriations bill, press release, and the Subcommittee markup can be found here.
