Congress Passes FY 2013 Funding – No Shutdown, Sequestration Intact

Published: March 22, 2013

USDADOCCONGRESSCybersecurityDEFENSEElectronic Health RecordForecasts and SpendingHHSDHSDOLNASAPolicy and LegislationSequestrationDOTVA

This week the Congress passed a fiscal year (FY) 2013 funding bill that provides budgets for a handful of federal departments and continuing resolution (CR) level funding for the remaining departments and agencies through the end of fiscal 2013 on September 30. The final bill averts the potential for a government shutdown and funds key priorities while leaving intact the sequestration rules set under the Budget Control Act (BCA).

When all was said and done, the House passed a Senate amended version of the original H.R. 933 House funding bill. The House original appropriated new budgets for the Department of Defense (DoD), military construction (MilCon) and the Veterans Affairs department.
 
The Senate added new budgets for Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Homeland Security, NASA, and select other agencies. All others will be funded at FY 2012 levels. (For our take on the overall impacts of the House bill check out this recent blog and for some DoD, VA and DHS implications see this blog.)
 
Year-over-Year Changes
 
Of the handful of appropriations bills that were finally passed, Congress did make some changes to fund select departments and agencies to reflect current priorities and give some flexibility in dealing with spending caps. A summary of these appropriations are presented in the table below.
 
 
 
 
Department of Defense
 
Total FY 2013 discretionary spending for DoD is set at totals $604.9 billion, including $87 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations. This is roughly $30 billion less than the FY 2012 appropriations, representing a decrease of 4.5%. Other highlights and funding priorities in the bill include:
  • Complies with the Budget Control Act spending caps by eliminating unneeded, unrequested funding that would be provided if the CR was extended
  • Directs 671 cuts to unnecessary or under-performing programs and eliminates excess funding due to schedule delays, program terminations, redundancies, and budgeting errors
  • Rescinds nearly $4 billion in unspent prior year funds
  • Aligns funding to new Defense strategy to fund current needs and reprioritizes funds to address known shortfalls
  • Fully complies with Senate Rule XLIV for transparency and maintains earmark moratorium
  • Bill provides the necessary funding for training and military health care
  • Adds $1.5 billion to the National Guard and Reserve Equipment account
  • $486 million to repair aging base facilities
  • Adds $463 million to mitigate shortfalls in day-to-day operation costs for installations
  • Increases funding for nanotechnology, advanced materials, silicon carbide, and manufacturing technologies
 
Homeland Security
 
Overall FY 2013 discretionary spending for DHS is $39.6 billion, excluding $254 million for Overseas Contingency and $6.4 billion for the disaster relief cap adjustment.
  • Coast Guard: $10.4 billion overall, of which $9 billion is discretionary spending. The bill also provides targeted increases above the FY 2013 request to support front line personnel with resources, including $8 million for initial acquisition planning and design of a new polar icebreaker and $20 million to reverse cuts proposed in the request for critical operational assets.
  • Transportation Security Administration (TSA): $7.5 billion for TSA is reduced by $2.4 billion in offsetting collections and fees. The bill includes funding for investments in explosives detection systems, passenger screening technologies, and air cargo security. The bill includes several funding oversight requirements including expenditure plans for checkpoint security technology investments, explosives detection systems for checked baggage, and air cargo security. In addition, language is included requiring TSA to provide a five-year investment plan forecast for passenger screening technologies.
  • U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP): $11.9 billion, which adds $79 million above the request for procurement, operations, and maintenance of critical air and marine assets used to defend our borders – including one additional multi-role enforcement aircraft, enhanced radar for unmanned aerial systems, and $28 million to increase flight hours.
  • U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE): $5.7 billion for ICE, primarily supporting personnel and operations, including border patrol, special agents and immigration officials.
  • United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS): $112 million in direct appropriations for USCIS and fully funds the E-Verify employment eligibility verification system.
  • United States Secret Service: $1.6 billion, adding $3.5 million for priority domestic and electronic crimes investigations and continues the multi-year modernization of critical White House and other Secret Service information technology and communications systems.
  • Science and Technology (S&T): $835 million, returning to FY 2011 levels, for R&D in biological defense, explosives defense, cyber security, first responders, border security, chemical countermeasures, and interoperability.
  • Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO): $318 million, including $28 million for handheld portable radiation detectors and $75 million for research and development of next-generation detection technologies.
  • National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD): $1.4 billion, including the following:
    • $232 million for a new account, the Office of Biometric Identity Management (OBIM). Instead of realigning the US-VISIT program as proposed in the FY 2013 budget, the bill creates a new account for OBIM, the DHS lead responsible for biometric identity management services.
    • $756 million for cybersecurity programs including Einstein intrusion detection and a critical cyber diagnostic strategy for the 118 federal agencies. Also included in cybersecurity funding is $16.8 million for cyber education programs.
    • $260 million in infrastructure protection programs to bolster against natural and man-made disasters, including $78 million to implement the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards Program.
  • Office of Health Affairs (OHA): $132 million, including $85 million for the Bio-Watch Program and $2 million to complete demonstration projects through the Chemical Defense Program.
 
Veterans Affairs
 
The VA receives $134 billion for FY 2013, which consists of $72.9B for mandatory programs ($9.1B above FY 2012) and $60.9 B for discretionary funding ($2.5B above FY 2012.)
  • Homeless Veterans Programs: $5.76B for health care and support services for homeless veterans.
  • Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans: $3.28b to meet the health care needs of veterans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, a $510M increase over FY 2012.
  • Long Term Care: $7.2M for long term care for the nation’s aging veterans as well as severely wounded combat veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
  • Information Technology (IT): $3.3 billion for IT projects.
    • $1B for pay and associated costs
    • $1.8B for operations and maintenance
    • $494B for DME including $169m for the iEHR and $38.5m the development of paperless claims systems. Requires approval for iEHR spending over 25% of total allotted. 
 
Health and Human Services
  • National Institutes of Health: Provides $1.5b for NIH, a $71m increase including $165m for the National Children’s Study.
  • Food and Drug Administration: Provides $2.5b for the FDA including $50m for implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act.
  • Child Care and Development Block Grant: Provides $2.3b for the program, which is a $50m increase for grants to states to improve working families’ access to quality, affordable child care.
  • HHS Lease Assistance: Provides additional funding to address imminent lease expirations and consolidations to allow HHS to save millions in annual lease costs and reduce its real property portfolio.
  • Head Start:  Provides a $33.5m increase for the Head Start program.
 
Transportation
  • Section 1801 of the legislation increases funding for highway, highway safety, and motor carrier safety programs to make them consistent with the levels previously authorized under the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) Act. Total funding provided by MAP-21 was $561 million in FY 2013 and $572 million in FY 2014.
  • Normalized MAP-21 funding potentially has an impact on initiatives related to the improvement of travel data collection and safety management. These initiatives would include active procurements for Compliance Test Procedures for Electronic Logging Devices and the Road Inventory Program, as well as task orders under contract # DTFAAC09D00081 held by SAIC for NextGen Initiatives Support Services.
 
Commerce
  • Department of Commerce will receive $7.7B in total funding.
  • The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will receive $5B, including funding for satellite programs.
  • The Patents and Trademark Office (PTO) provides $2.88B.
  • The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) receives $809M for laboratories and research.
  • Bureau of the Census will receive $906M.
 
Justice
  • Department of Justice will receive $27.3B in total funding.
  • Grants to State and Local Law Enforcement and crime victims total $2.2B. This includes funding for the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) improvements.
  • Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) receives$8B for salaries and expenses for national security and counterterrorism investigations, combating cyber threats.
  • Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) receives $2.36B.
 
Energy
  • Energy Department funding was reduced by a total of $44M.
  • Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy reduced by $11 M
  • Nuclear Energy reduced by $10M.
  • Science reduced by $13M.
  • Advanced Research Projects Agency –Energy reduced by $10M to $265M.
  • Atomic Energy Defense Activities, National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) $7.577B, an increase of $363M.
  • Atomic Energy Defense Activities, Defense Nuclear Proliferation receive an additional $110M.
 
Agriculture
  • USDA’s operating budget is a winner this time around as FY 2013 discretionary funding of $20.5 billion represents a 5% increase over the FY 2012 level of $19.5 billion. Funding includes:
  • $24 million for USDA Departmental Administration to provide for necessary expenses for management support services and general administration. These support services include enterprise IT services provided by the National IT Center (NITC) and investments in enterprise IT modernization called for by the USDA’s Optimized Computing Environment (OCE) initiative.
  • $44 million for the Office of the Chief Information Officer and $6 million for the Office of the Chief Financial Officer.
  • $89 million for the Office of Inspector General that the legislation states may be used for contracting.
  • $811 thousand for the Office of the Under Secretary for Food Safety and calls out that funding shall be directed to the Public Health Data Communication Infrastructure System (PHDCIS) until expended. This potentially affects the following vendors and contracts: General Dynamics, # AG3A94D090194 & Dell, # AG3A94D090137.
  • $75 million for the Risk Management Agency (RMA), including funding that may be used for the Common Information Management System (CIMS). This affects the IT Support Services contract, # GST0011AJ0019, held by SAIC.
 
NASA
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration receives $17.5B in total funding.
  • Space Launch System receives $2.1 B including funding for ground operations and construction and related test facilities.
  • Funding for the International Space Station (ISS) includes $515M for commercial crew transportation to the ISS and $2.9B for operations and research.
  • NASA Science includes $630M for Space Technology to support human and robotic missions.
 
Education
  • Safe Schools and Citizenship: Allows funds available under the Department of Education Safe Schools and Citizenship account to be used to assist educational institutions impacted by school violence.
 
Interior
  • Bureau of Land Management $951M for Management of Lands and Resources, $0 for construction.
  • US Fish and Wildlife Service, $1.2B for Resources Management
 
Labor
  • Job Corps Program: Provides an additional $30m for the program.
  • Unemployment Insurance: Decreases funding for grants to state agencies that administer federal and state unemployment insurance (UI) by $60m.
 
Fellow GovWin Federal Industry Analysis (FIA) analysts Kyra Fussell, Angela Petty, and Alex Rossino contributed to this entry.