House DHS Spending Bill Cuts $484M For FY 2013
By Katelyn Noland | Executive Gov | May 9, 2012

The House Appropriations Committee’s fiscal year 2013 homeland security spending bill reduces current spending levels by $484 million to $39.12 billion, The Hill newspaper reports.

Twelve spending bills such as the DHS bill will make their way through Congress go to vote in the coming weeks.

While the DHS proposed budget line is a reduction from current spending levels, the White House has said it plans to reject all 2013 spending bills unless they meet the $1.047 trillion top spending level set with the debt-ceiling deal.

Spending bills would have to conform with this dollar amount over the $1.028 trillion proposed in Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) budget plans, The Hill reported.

Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) suggested Ryan’s budget plan would potentially reserve the worst cuts for domestic discretionary spending that will not be considered until much later.

Dicks told the newspaper that the bill does not give enough funding for DHS’ new headquarters project but provides adequate funding levels for state grants for disaster response efforts and firefighters.

The bill prohibits funding for transferring and releasing detainees from Guantanamo Bay in hopes to prevent additional gun-running programs, the report notes.

Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) said the bill gives precise spending reduction measures but provides full funds for frontline operations and necessary funding increases for research, preparedness grants and cybersecurity.

The House Armed Services Committee is set to begin marking up the 2013 defense authorization bill Wednesday and the House Budget Committee will review the Sequester Replacement Act of 2012, requiring federal employees to pay more for retirement benefits.

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