Transportation, border security largest homeland security allocations in proposed budget

Published 27 March 2006

An analysis of government-wide homeland security allocations in President Bush’s proposed budget shows that transportation and border security will receive the most money

DHS is only one of many U.S. government departments and agencies with homeland security responsibilities. CQ’s Tim Starks calculates that if all of the proposed homeland security spending for fiscal 2007 were combined into one department, it would be the third-largest in the federal government — after Defense and Health and Human Services. Of the $58.3 billion that the administration has requested for antiterrorism programs in FY2007, $27.8 billion would go to DHS, followed by the $16.7 billion which would go to the Pentagon. The other government departments which, according the administration’s proposed next-year budget, would spend more than $1 billion each on homeland security, are Health and Human Services, $4.6 billion; Justice, $3.3 billion; Energy, $1.7 billion; and Transportation, $1.2 billion.

Border and transportation security is the largest homeland security expense. President Bush has asked for government-wide allocations totaling $20.2 billion in fiscal 2007 to protect borders, airports, mass transit, and other transportation systems. Protecting critical infrastructure and key assets — everything from government structures to nuclear power plants — is the next-largest category of homeland security funding, at $18.4 billion. Note that these figures do not include the components of the homeland security budget which are classified.

The Coast Guard has estimated that ports will have to spend $5.4 billion over the next decade to comply with federal security mandates. Public transportation officials say $6 billion is needed to shore up mass transit security, but only $400 million in dedicated funding has been approved by Congress.