APPROPRIATIONS/BUDGET NEWS

The Congress recently approved the FY 2020 Consolidated National Security Appropriations Bill. This legislation includes Division D – The Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2020.

The Homeland Security division provides $69.8 billion in discretionary funding, $2.2 billion above the President’s budget request and $6.4 billion above the FY 2019 enacted level. A summary of this legislation is attached. Some highlights:

1. The Office of Biometric Identity Management is provided $183.9M for IDENT/Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology.
2. Restores $13.8M of the $27.6M reduction in the budget request to EVUS.
3. Provides $20M for Port of Entry technology.
4. Provides $30M to enable the DHS CMO, in conjunction with CBP, ICE, and other operational components, to develop and establish interim and long-term electronic systems for recording and maintaining information related to the health of individuals in the Department’s custody.
5. Provides $122.3M for E-Verify.
6. Provides $43.5M for the Election Infrastructure Security Initiative.

[su_button url=”https://www.deepwaterpoint.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/FY-2020-Final-Funding-for-DHS.pdf” target=”blank” style=”flat” background=”#777e85″ color=”#000000″ size=”10″]View Full Summary[/su_button]

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The House of Representatives will consider later today HR 1158, the FY20 Consolidated National Security Appropriations funding package. This package contains four individual spending bills, as follows:

1) Defense; 2) Commerce, Justice, Science; 3) Financial Services/General Government; and 4) Homeland Security.

Attached is a summary prepared by the Senate Committee on Appropriations for each of these bills.

[su_button url=”https://www.deepwaterpoint.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HR1158-Natl-Security-Package-Summary.pdf” target=”blank” style=”flat” background=”#777e85″ color=”#000000″ size=”10″]View Full Summary[/su_button]

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APPROPRIATIONS/BUDGET NEWS

The House of Representatives is scheduled today to consider HR 1865, the FY20 Consolidated Domestic and International funding package. This package contains eight individual spending bills, as follows:

1) Agriculture; 2) Energy and Water; 3)Interior/Environment; 4) Labor-HHS-Education; 5) Legislative; 6) Military Construction/VA; 7) State/Foreign Operations; and 8) Transportation/HUD.

Attached is a summary prepared by the Senate Committee on Appropriations for each of these bills.

[su_button url=”https://www.deepwaterpoint.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HR1865-Domestic-Intl-Asst-Package-Summary.pdf” target=”blank” style=”flat” background=”#777e85″ color=”#000000″ size=”10″]View Full Summary[/su_button]

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APPROPRIATIONS/BUDGET NEWS

Few details released on the final deal
After several meetings yesterday, HAC and SAC leaders announced they had a deal to complete all 12 of the FY 20 appropriations bills that will increase defense and domestic budgets by $49 billion, as Roll Call reports:

“As of Wednesday, appropriators still had more than 100 open items left to resolve with partisan disagreements about border wall spending still open.

“A series of meetings and offers led to a somewhat frantic Thursday, with Lowey and Shelby meeting with House ranking member Kay Granger, R-Texas, and Senate ranking member Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., around 10 a.m. before Lowey and Shelby went into a meeting with Pelosi and Mnuchin.

“Republicans sent a proposal to Democrats during the afternoon, after which Lowey, Shelby, Granger and Leahy met again to hash out the final elements.”

Following acceptance of the deal, HAC and SAC leaders announced little to nothing about what was in their agreement. Reports are that the final bills will be released on Monday.

What we do know:
President Trump will get $1.375 billion for border barrier construction, significantly less than the $5 billion the White House requested. Congress will not backfill $3.6 billion in military construction funds that the White House had taken under its emergency declaration. Trump will be able to retain his ability to transfer funding from Pentagon accounts to the border wall.

Politico noted what is still unknown:
“It’s also unclear how the deal will treat other hot-button issues, such as federal spending on gun violence research, and certain parochial projects pursued by congressional leaders.

“House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy wanted the funding deal to include language that would allow more water to be stored in the Shasta Lake reservoir in Northern California – an increase in water height that many Democrats and environmental groups oppose. According to a Republican aide, it would be fair to include the Shasta Lake provision if Pelosi gets her wish of including language making $10 million available to the Presidio project in San Francisco.”

Bloomberg also highlighted undecided issues:
“Coal Miners Pension Measure Still Needs a Vehicle: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said he doesn’t see much opposition to his demand for a vote on a measure addressing coal miners’ pensions and health care. The provision could ride on a spending bill, though Manchin said he’s open to any vehicle as long as it passes.”

“Senators are pressing to insert language to set enforceable limits on ‘forever’ chemicals in the end-of-the-year spending bill after lawmakers failed to do so in the annual defense authorization bill.”

Floor action
Earlier this week, it was rumored that Congress will roll the 12 appropriations bills into two minibuses – one addressing security and the other will contain the remaining bills.

Roll Call reports that minibuses over an omnibus bill seem to be the preferred vehicle for floor action:

“‘It is my hope that we will consider those appropriations bills on the floor on Tuesday; perhaps a series of minibus packages to fund all of government for the remainder of the fiscal year,’ House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., said Thursday afternoon.

“Hoyer said he’d discuss with Lowey how many packages they plan to put on the floor. Both parties have pledged to avoid another omnibus bill encompassing all 12 bills since the fiscal 2018 law was enacted in March 2018.”

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FY20 NDAA conference report

The conferees on the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act have reached agreement and it will be considered by the House and Senate later this week. A summary of the agreement, prepared by the Senate Armed Services Committee, is attached.

[su_button url=”https://www.deepwaterpoint.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/FY20-NDAA-Conference-Summary.pdf” target=”blank” style=”flat” background=”#777e85″ color=”#000000″ size=”10″]View Full Summary[/su_button]

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APPROPRIATIONS/BUDGET NEWS

Sounds of silence
HAC and SAC negotiators met through the weekend to finalize all 12 FY 20 appropriations bills, but Sunday ended with no announcement.

Hopefully, the bills will come together today. Subcommittees were told to submit their unresolved issues to leadership last Friday.

Friday evening Roll Call reported that a foreign aid rider was creating a problem in the STATE-FOPS bill:

“Urged on by anti-abortion activists and religious groups, the White House is raising concerns in year-end spending talks about language secured by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., in the Senate’s State-Foreign Operations bill they fear could cut out faith-based aid groups from U.S. Agency for International Development contracts.

“Shaheen argues the provision in the bill would simply require USAID contractors to adhere to current law, which stipulates they can’t deny services to individuals based on race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, marital status, political affiliation or other factors.”

Sweetening the pot
The Hill reports that in an attempt to get GOP approval for appropriations bills, Democrats have offered to include a provision to repeal the ObamaCare Cadillac tax:

“A congressional aide familiar with the talks told The Hill that Democratic negotiators had put repeal of the Cadillac tax ‘on the table in the appropriations negotiations.’

“The aide added that the offer was made as part of ‘broader negotiations’ and that there are ‘several things still unresolved’ in the spending talks.

“ObamaCare’s Cadillac tax, which has never gone into effect, was meant to keep health care costs down by discouraging overly-generous ‘Cadillac’ health insurance plans.”

FY 20 NDAA on House agenda
The House Majority leader’s weekly calendar lists a vote on the conferenced FY 20 NDAA for Wednesday or later.

Last week it was reported that an agreement on paid family leave for federal workers and establishing a Space Force were also part of the conferenced bill.

The Washington Post reported today Administration negotiators offered several ideas in exchange for the Space Force creation before finally settling on the deal that would be “the biggest victory for federal employees in nearly 30 years.”

Because of the coast of the family leave provisions there is concern that the deal might not be approved:

“…it is unclear whether it will have enough support among Republicans to pass the Senate. And support for the idea isn’t unanimous within the Trump administration. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has raised concerns about approving parental-leave benefits because of the cost, three people briefed on the talks said.

“Some Democratic aides say the proposed federal benefits package would cost about $3 billion, though there is disagreement about whether those costs would span five or 10 years.”

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APPROPRIATIONS/BUDGET NEWS

Weekend deadline for FY 20 appropriations bills

Appropriators are supposed to turn in their list of unresolved issues today and complete their FY 20 bills by this weekend in order to get them passed by the current CR deadline of December 20.

Roll Call reports that to some it’s an achievable goal:

“‘I’m more enthusiastic than I was a couple of days ago,’ said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. ‘We want final negotiations to be done this weekend.'”

Others – not so sure:

“Appropriations Chairman Richard C. Shelby of Alabama confirmed the weekend goal but appeared less confident that it could be met. ‘I’m more guarded because we still have the big hurdles and we haven’t concluded those,’ he said. ‘And they will be the hardest.'”

The biggest hurdles are funding for the Trump wall and related immigration issues:

“The [HS] subcommittee’s ranking Democrat, Montana Sen. Jon Tester, echoed that assessment. ‘Everything that’s controversial is on the table,’ he said, citing wall funding, detention bed capacity, and the president’s authority to transfer money from other programs to a border wall. ‘We haven’t come to a conclusion yet,’ he said.”

LHHS also has big hurdles. Senate LHHS Chairman Roy Blunt described his House counterpart Rosa Delauro as “a tough negotiator” and wasn’t totally confident they could reach today’s deadline.

The Hill reports that detention beds are one of the biggest hurdles in the HS bill to resolve:

“Democrats are insisting that the Homeland Security spending bill include drastic cuts to the number of beds ICE has available for detaining immigrants, a move that Republicans argue will lead to weaker border defense.”

Recent reports of fake schools for immigrants didn’t help negotiators:

“Anger at ICE shot up this week, particularly among Democrats, following revelations that the agency set up a fake school in Michigan in a bid to lure foreign students to violate immigration laws.”

Currently, there are 35,520 detention beds. The House FY 20 HS bill would reduce the number to 34,000 while the Senate bill raises the number to 52,000.

According to DHS, the detained population at the end of November was 44,860.

Wall Funding – is there already enough funding?
Additional funding for the southern border wall has been described as the major obstacle to finishing the FY 20 appropriations bills. Rumors are that the White House will not sign any appropriations bills if Congress doesn’t include $8.6 B in new wall funding.

However, Defense News reports that HASC Chairman Adam Smith says the Administration doesn’t need more funding for the Trump wall:

“Because the administration used statutory power to re-program Defense Department dollars from personnel, military construction and other accounts to pay for building border barriers, House Armed Services Committee chairman Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., said Thursday, the border wall budget is now overflowing, and he has tried to relay that to the White House.

“‘And you managed to steal $6.1 billion out of the Pentagon budget, and you did that fair and square,’ Smith told an audience at the American Enterprise Institute. ‘They don’t like the word ‘steal,’ by the way. Declare victory, OK? You managed to get $7.5 billion for the wall, and I’m told … they can’t spend that $7.5 billion before the end of [fiscal year 2020].'”

Another CR?
From Politico Playbook:
[House Speaker Nancy] ” PELOSI on a shutdown: ‘I don’t think we’re headed for a shutdown. I don’t think anybody wants that. I think the president and the Republicans learned in the last shutdown that it just wasn’t — there was no upside to it, even though the president has said I’ll take pride in shutting down government. I don’t think he’s going to take pride in shutting it down again.

“‘ WE WOULD HOPE TO BE FINISHED BY THE 21ST . And we’re on a good path. If we’re not, we will just go to a continuing resolution until a couple — you know, until after Christmas. But I hope we don’t have to do that. But I don’t think anybody wants to see a shutdown.”

HAC Appropriator Tom Graves still working on budget/appropriations reforms
Even though FSGG Ranking Member Tom Graves announced yesterday he was not going to run for re-election he still plans to continue working on the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress and on the issue of restoring Congressional earmarks, as Roll Call reports:

“Graves, a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, solicited ideas about whether the House’s nearly decade-long ban on earmarks had been effective and whether there might be a way forward that would empower the legislative branch. Earmarks refer to lawmaker-directed spending, typically for projects in their congressional districts or states.”

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APPROPRIATIONS/BUDGET NEWS

The Senate recently passed S. 1846, the State and Local Government Cybersecurity Act of 2019. There is no similar House bill as of this time.

The purpose of this legislation is to improve the cybersecurity posture of state, local, tribal, and territorial governments (SLTTs) through the coordination of activities with DHS National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC). CBO estimates that enacting S. 1846 would cost $31 million over the 2019–2024 period. A summary of this legislation is attached.

[su_button url=”https://www.deepwaterpoint.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/S.-1846-STATE-AND-LOCAL-GOVERNMENT-CYBERSECURITY-ACT-OF-2019.pdf” target=”blank” style=”flat” background=”#777e85″ color=”#000000″ size=”10″]View Full Summary[/su_button]

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APPROPRIATIONS/BUDGET NEWS

Democrats make counter funding offer on 302(B)s funding levels

Bloomberg reported that Democrats made a new offer to Republicans for resolving the impasse over the FY 20 funding levels:

“House Democrats made an offer on the set of 12 allocations shortly before Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) entered a meeting with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), Lowey told reporters.

“The allocations agreement may require a change to the budget caps deal signed into law in July (Public Law 116-37), as Democrats have proposed a plan that would change the overall spending levels through emergency spending or cap adjustments, a House Democratic aide said. Because that would require a change in law, the Trump administration would have to agree to that plan.”

Various media reports confuse when these new numbers will be revealed or agreed upon.

Following yesterday’s meeting with Pelosi, Mnunchin, Lowey and Shelby, Politico reported that the FY 20 302(b) numbers could be settled no later than Nov. 18:

“Officials from both parties emerged from the meeting confident that they could settle on concrete spending amounts over the weekend – a deal that would likely avoid a paralyzing government-wide shutdown this winter. It would finally allow Congress to begin passing spending bills and avoid a dreaded year-long funding patch.”

However, Bloomberg reports that the new allocations will not be settled until later next week:

“Lowey said she hopes to strike a deal on a bicameral set of allocations by [Wednesday] Nov. 20, the day before government funding expires. Lawmakers already plan to rely on a second stopgap measure to fund the government through Dec. 20.

“‘There was a general agreement from all sides that it was important to get our work done and we intend to move forward and get our work done by Nov. 20,’ Lowey said.”

Disagreement over funding of the Trump wall has been the major impediment for finalizing the FY 20 spending caps. Politico reports, there may be a deal in the works to get around the issues:

“‘Republicans appear willing to set aside discussing the wall for now in hopes of achieving the bipartisan goal of finalizing the allocations,’ a senior Democratic aide said after the meeting.”

“One idea is to use emergency cash to pay for bipartisan initiatives like the VA Mission Act – a new veterans program that Trump himself has championed – that could free up some money for DHS.

“That would not resolve the border wall issue, but it would at least allow both parties to move past it for now as they begin work on other funding bills.”

The House will vote next week on a second CR that will extend the funding deadline until December 20th.

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APPROPRIATIONS/BUDGET NEWS

How will Congress end the FY 20 appropriations?

CQ posted an article this week that said rumors to extend the next CR into late January or early February are dead.  Instead, the more popular date for the new CR is through Dec. 13 or 20. Besides determining a new CR date, the parties need to resolve outstanding differences between each other. Democrats want more funding for the FY 20 Labor-HHS bill:

“Senate Democrats last month proposed adding $3.3 billion to the bill’s allocation, paid for by cuts to the DHS bill, but the GOP countered with just $1 billion more – offset through surplus Pell Grant funds within the Labor-HHS-Subcommittee jurisdiction. The House L-HHS bill, written before the budget deal was passed, provides $14 billion more than the Senate bill.

The parties also disagree on funding for the Trump wall. The White House is asking for $8.6B for wall construction. The Senate Homeland Security bill appropriates $5B. The House bill provides no funding for new physical barriers. CQ states that, “Passing all the bills before the new year would require a compromise on the wall and transfer authority.”

“One option proposed by Democrats is to use emergency funds, cap adjustments or both to free up discretionary funds to allow for a higher Labor-HHS-Education allocation. Republicans have not expressed any willingness to go along with this. They say it would involve reopening negotiations over the budget deal that specified adjustments above the caps for war funds and 2020 census costs.

“Another possible option would be to spread funds for wall construction over several different bills, including the massive Defense bill as well as Homeland Security and Military Construction-VA, allowing resources for the wall to take a smaller bite out of each bill.”

The pressure is on to reach some sort of a deal because there are only eight legislative days left before the current CR expires on November 21.

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