Automation Funding Maintained in Senate DHS Spending Bill Sent to Floor
Most CBP inspection activities as well as ACE and the International Trade Data System (ITDS) remain largely shielded from cuts in the Senate Appropriations Committee’s fiscal year 2017 Department of Homeland Security spending legislation, despite the bill's proposal to fund CBP at $11.2 billion, $500 million less than the White House's request. Approved and sent by the full committee to the Senate floor on May 26, the bill pitches $813.2 million in for CBP automation modernization, $27.7 million below the Obama Administration’s request, but the ACE/ITDS budget line comes up only about $100,000 shorter, and automated targeting systems absorb a mere $30,000 cut from the $122.64 million programmed. CBP’s $407.2 million information technology request took the biggest hit of all programs in the automation modernization account, as senators plan to fund that program at $27.3 million less than the White House proposal.
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Senate appropriators directed CBP to develop an outreach plan to implement ACE and brief lawmakers about the plan during the agency’s semiannual ACE briefing to Congress. “The committee understands that the completion of the transition to ACE requires significant investments for both Federal and industry partners,” the committee report said. “The Committee fully expects that partner government agencies will prioritize providing the appropriate resources to support this transition.” The committee report also said that appropriators “staunchly” support CBP’s targeting capabilities, and that they hope CBP will continue to refine the Automated Targeting System, which has identified and countered terrorist travel and “other illicit activity.”
The $813.2 million recommendation for automation modernization also includes an $8.7 million increase for revenue modernization and senators recommended CBP invest in technologies to erase the need for any cash transactions at ports of entry by 2020. Appropriators in the bill report noted their support for the automated bond system. In total, the legislation would provide $49.7 billion to fund DHS in FY 2017, $740.3 million more than the administration’s budget request. House appropriators have not marked up DHS spending legislation.