DHS Appropriations FY2017: Protection, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery

Summary

This report is part of a suite of reports that discuss appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for FY2017. It specifically discusses appropriations for the components of DHS included in the third title of the homeland security appropriations bill—the National Protection and Programs Directorate, the Office of Health Affairs, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Collectively, Congress has labeled these components in recent years as “Protection, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery.”

The report provides an overview of the Administration’s FY2017 request for these components, and the appropriations proposed by the Senate and House appropriations committees in response. Rather than limiting the scope of its review to the third title of the bills, the report includes information on provisions throughout the bills and report that directly affect these components.

Protection, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery is the second largest of the four titles that carry the bulk of the funding in the bill, and includes the bulk of grant funding provided by DHS. The Administration requested $5.69 billion in FY2017 net discretionary budget authority for components included in this title and $6.71 billion in specially designated funding for disaster relief—together representing 26.0% of the Administration’s $47.7 billion request for net discretionary budget authority and disaster relief funding for DHS. As part of the request, the Administration proposed consolidating the Office of Health Affairs (OHA), along with several other parts of DHS, into a new Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives Office, which would be funded in another title.

The appropriations request was $718 million (11.2%) less than was provided for FY2016 in net discretionary budget authority. The proposed decrease in discretionary funding for the components in this title is more than double the total net decrease in adjusted net discretionary budget authority requested for the entire department. The largest budget decrease proposed was a $546 million (11.7%) reduction in net discretionary budget authority for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, largely driven by reductions in grant programs. Also contributing to the reduction in the request was its proposal to consolidate OHA (along with several other parts of DHS) into a new Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives Office, funded in Title IV. OHA had been funded at $125 million in Title III in FY2016.

Senate Appropriations Committee-reported S. 3001 would have provided the components included in this title $6.58 billion in net discretionary budget authority. This would have been $898 million (15.8%) more than requested, and $180 million (2.8%) more than was provided in FY2016. S. 3001 included the requested disaster relief funding.

House Appropriations Committee-reported H.R. 5634 would have provided the components included in this title $6.44 billion in net discretionary budget authority. This would have been $753 million (13.2%) more than requested, and $34 million (0.5%) more than was provided in FY2016. H.R. 5634 also included the requested disaster relief funding.

On September 29, 2016, the President signed into law P.L. 114-223, which contained a continuing resolution that funds the government at the same rate of operations as FY2016, minus 0.496% through December 9, 2017. For details on the continuing resolution and its impact on DHS, see CRS Report R44621, Department of Homeland Security Appropriations: FY2017, which also includes additional information on the broader subject of FY2017 funding for DHS as well as links to analytical overviews and details regarding components in other titles.

This report will be updated once the annual appropriations process for DHS for FY2017 is concluded.