Capito leads Senate subcommittee markup, approval of homeland security funding bill

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, led by chairman U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), on Tuesday marked up and approved the fiscal year (FY) 2020 homeland security bill, sending it to the full committee for consideration.

“This carefully and thoughtfully crafted bill provides the Department of Homeland Security and its nearly 250,000 employees with the resources to carry out a broad set of missions that span the entire globe and impact every American,” Sen. Capito said. “My highest priority in working on this bill was including what is necessary to secure our borders, and this measure recommends major investments in border security and immigration enforcement.”

The Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2020, would fund a total of $70.7 billion to support the various missions of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including $53.18 billion in base discretionary funding for DHS missions such as border security, disaster relief, transportation security, immigration enforcement, and cybersecurity, with more than $17 billion slated for disaster relief, according to Capito’s office.

“The bill directly funds the investments President Trump and law enforcement professionals have told us they need to do their jobs to the best of their ability — including a border wall system — and I’m confident it will help improve our national security in a number of meaningful ways,” said Sen. Capito.

Sen. Capito also successfully increased funding by $10 million in the bill for Customs and Border Protection program activities at the Advanced Training Center in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., that would expand training capabilities there, among numerous other provisions.

The measure was approved on Thursday by the full U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee in a vote of 17-14.