Katko: CBO Confirms Democrats’ Failure to Address Homeland Security Needs in Socialist Spending Spree

WASHINGTON, DC— Rep. John Katko (R-NY), lead Republican of the House Committee on Homeland Security, blasted Democrats’ failure to prioritize border security and counterterrorism operations in their bloated spending bill. CBO’s initial evaluation of the homeland security title of H.R. 5376, the Build Back Better Act, found the Department of Homeland Security would not spend all of the budget authority provided to them in the reconciliation bill.

“As House Democrats come closer to jamming their socialist spending spree down the throats of Americans, we find out what we knew all along: Democrats completely missed the mark on the homeland security funding in the bill. In its initial review, the CBO estimated that DHS will not spend all of the money provided to them in the reconciliation bill. As the nation continues to endure the impacts of Biden’s border crisis and braces itself for the very real threat to the homeland stemming from the administration’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal, Democrats refused to include a single dollar for border security or counterterrorism. Instead of acknowledging the reality of the current state of our homeland security, Democrats would rather throw an overabundance of taxpayer dollars at ‘sustainability and environmental programs’ that DHS simply does not need.

“Democrats would rather money sit unused than fund border security and counterterrorism priorities as our Border Patrol agents are being pushed to their limit to respond to the record number of illegal migrants at the border and Western countries are beginning to elevate their terror threat levels as the rise of extremism out of Afghanistan strengthens.

“This completely misguided reconciliation package does nothing to support our men and women on the frontline of this border crisis or secure the American people from the numerous threats to the homeland. This is unacceptable and the American people deserve better.”

Background

• CBO estimates that the Department of Homeland Security will not spend all of the budget authority provided in Sections 50001 and 50004.
• Since the House Committee on Homeland Security’s partisan markup on September 14 where Republicans were completely shut out, Democrats made significant changes in the dark to increase the homeland funding to $1.5 billion to include an astounding $900 million for “sustainability and environmental programs,” with no clarification on what these programs actually are or any analysis on what DHS actually needs.
• Earlier this month, Ranking Member Katko testified before the House Rules Committee to call out Democrats’ partisanship and gross negligence in funding the Department of Homeland Security in their socialist spending bill.

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