President Biden would keep overall discretionary funding for the Department of Homeland Security flat while giving targeted increases to mission segments including cybersecurity, immigration, and climate resilience, according to numbers released by the White House on Friday.
Biden’s preliminary discretionary budget request allocates $52 billion to DHS, about the same as the department received in 2021.
DHS was unique among government entities in the “skinny” budget proposal: most departments would see budget increases under the president’s plan, including a 41 percent hike at the Department of Education, a 28 percent raise at the Commerce Department, and a 21 percent boost at the Environmental Protection Agency. Non-DHS entities with a stake in homeland security also would get funding boosts, including 25 percent more for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and double the budget for the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Within DHS, a couple immigration-related areas would get funding boosts under Biden’s plan: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which was hurting for cash after the early 2020 pandemic lockdown, would get almost triple its 2021 allocation at $345 million to help support up to 125,000 refugee admissions in 2022, expanded access to the Alternatives to Detention program, and enhanced asylum processing services; Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement would see their Offices of…
