Current funds ‘unlikely’ to sustain DHS border agency – By Suzanne Monyak (Roll Call) / May 19 2021
The prospect of a supplemental funding bill for Customs and Border Protection surfaced during a House appropriations hearing
U.S. Customs and Border Protection appears “unlikely” to have enough money for the remainder of the fiscal year, a top House appropriator said Wednesday, raising the prospect of another supplemental funding bill as the country deals with high migration levels.
The Homeland Security Department’s law enforcement agency has experienced a shortfall in user fees normally collected for immigration and customs-related activities after international travel and border crossings plunged last year amid the pandemic.
House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Lucille Roybal-Allard noted that Congress allocated $840 million in emergency funding for fiscal 2021, which runs through Sept. 30, to offset financial losses. She questioned whether that would be enough to keep the agency afloat.
“It now seems unlikely the funding we appropriated will be sufficient to carry the agency through the end of the fiscal year,” the California Democrat said during a hearing Wednesday.
Roybal-Allard asked interim CBP leader Troy Miller for his “candid assessment” on the agency’s “current fiscal posture.”
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