Monday, July 1st, 2024
Homeland Security Appropriations: The House (212-203) H.R. 8752, Homeland Security Appropriations Act for FY 2025. The bill provides $94.4 billion in discretionary spending for the Homeland Security Department and its operational components, including $64.8 billion subject to the measure's discretionary cap, $22.7 billion for major disaster relief under a disaster cap adjustment, $6.1 billion that will be offset by various fee collections, and $754 million offset by rescissions of prior year funding. Appropriations subject to the discretionary cap is $800 million (1%) more than FY 2024. The GOP measure increases funding for border infrastructure (including border barriers) and for immigration enforcement; Democrats oppose the measure.
State-Foreign Operations Appropriations: The House passed (212-200) H.R.8771, State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Act for FY 2025. The bill provides total a total of $53.6 billion for State Department operations and activities, foreign aid and export assistance, including $51.7 billion subject to the measure's discretionary cap (11% less than comparable FY 2024 funding). The GOP measure provides a slight increase for security assistance programs but eliminates funding for the United Nations' regular budget as well as more than a dozen U.N. programs and related offices, including the World Health Organization and UNESCO. It also makes major reductions in humanitarian funding.
Defense Appropriations: The House passed (217-198) H.R.8774, the Defense Appropriations Act for FY 2025. The bill provides a total of $833.1 billion in net discretionary defense spending, consistent with the defense caps set by last year's debt limit agreement, $8.6 billion (1%) more than comparable FY 2024 funding. The GOP measure increases funding for Pentagon operation and maintenance (2% more), military personnel (4% more), and the defense health program (3% more), while reducing funding for weapons and other procurement (by 4%) and military research and development (by 2%). It supports a 4.5% pay raise for all military personnel, along with an additional 15% increase for junior enlisted servicemembers to help improve recruitment and retention.
Amendments: Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas would lose his annual salary under a House amendment.
The House also adopted amendments to:
Block DHS from removing any border barriers erected by states
Bar the department from offering deportation protections for qualified Palestinians
Cut off funding for electric vehicles, among other divisive measures
Block funding for executive order directing federal agencies to promote access to voting and voting rights
Prohibit Rules with a $100 million economic impact
