An Ignoble Experiment

2. DHS appropriations bill advances in House

Two weeks after he said he was taking a "fresh look" at the Secure Communities program for immigration enforcement, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson stressed the importance of the program and attributed its woes to poor messaging.

"I think the goal of the program is a very worthy one that needs to continue," Johnson said during a House Judiciary Committee hearing May 29.

"As part of the overall effort I'm embarked in right now, I want a fresh start to this program, and I want a fresh conversation with mayors and governors around the country to make this program work more effectively," he added.

Johnson didn't specify any changes that might be forthcoming for the program, saying that "with clearer guidance and clearer understandings by mayors and governors, commissioners and sheriffs of what our priorities are, we can go a long way to improving the administration of this program."

Some local law enforcement agencies have resisted the program, where they are supposed to share fingerprints with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which then searches databases to see if people arrested by local authorities are deportable.

Critics say that immigrants who are law-abiding outside of their immigration status are afraid to contact police.

Johnson said the controversy surrounding the program necessitated a review. But, he noted, "I don't believe we should scrap Secure Communities."

For more:
- visit the hearing webpage (webcast and prepared testimony available)

Read more about: House Judiciary, ICE
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By Zach Rausnitz

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3. As FEMA, FTA both fund disaster recovery, report warns of confusion

The fiscal 2015 Homeland Security Department appropriations bill advanced May 28 as the House Appropriations subcommittee on homeland security approved it by a voice vote.

Members did not consider any amendments. Rep. John Carter (R-Texas), the subcommittee chairman, said they had agreed to postpone offering amendments until the bill was before the full committee.

The bill (pdf) would provide $39.22 billion in discretionary funding to DHS, just below its $39.23 billion budget for fiscal 2014. The Obama administration requested a more significant drop, to $38.18 billion, in the 2015 budget it proposed in March.

"The president's fiscal budget for 2015 proposal for DHS presents a seriously distorted and harmful budget for our frontline homeland security agencies," Carter said during markup.

The bill would restore cuts that the administration proposed for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and the Coast Guard.

Though the subcommittee didn't vote on any changes to the legislation, members did offer criticisms during markup. Several Democrats expressed their disapproval for the bill's mandate that ICE maintain a minimum of 34,000 detention beds, saying it was arbitrary and could waste resources if the agency does not need all the beds.

Rep. David Price (D-N.C.), the ranking member, also complained about the absence of funding in the bill for the DHS headquarters consolidation project at St. Elizabeths.

Though most of the money for the project goes through the General Services Administration, DHS received $35 million for its contribution in fiscal 2014. The department requested $73 million in fiscal 2015.

Republicans have grown skeptical of funding the headquarters consolidation as its price tag has jumped by more than $1 billion and its estimated completion date has been delayed by more than a decade compared to the original plans.

For more:
- visit the markup webpage (webcast available)

Read more about: CBP, Coast Guard
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By Zach Rausnitz

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4. Research raises prospects for anti-nerve-agent clothing, masks

Transit agencies applying for federal funds to rebuild after future disasters may be confused as to whether to seek it from the Federal Emergency Management Agency or the Federal Transit Administration, says a new report from the Government Accountability Office.

There's also a risk that the two agencies could inadvertently fund redundant projects, it says.

The 2013 Hurricane Sandy relief package provided more than $10 billion for the FTA's emergency relief program, which was established only a few months before Sandy struck. That money exceeded the estimated cost of the damage that transit agencies suffered during Sandy, so the FTA and FEMA agreed that the former would be in charge of funding transit recovery projects.

But the FTA hasn't received funding for disasters other than Sandy, forcing transit agencies to switch back to FEMA to recover from other disasters. The report notes one transit agency in Massachusetts that received FTA grant funding after Sandy, then turned to FEMA for assistance when it sustained additional damage in a winter storm that hit less than four months later.

Switching between FTA and FEMA is likely to continue as transit agencies deal with future disasters, and if the FTA receives funding for a disaster that doesn't fully pay for the recovery, agencies may have to work with both agencies during the same disaster. That raises the risk not only for confusion but for overlap between FTA and FEMA funding, the report says.

For more:
- download the report, GAO-14-512 (pdf)

Read more about: FEMA, GAO report
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By Zach Rausnitz

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