Homeland Security bureau needs extra $300 million to get through year

The Homeland Security Department wants to redirect nearly $300 million to its Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau in order to address ongoing financial shortfalls for the remainder of fiscal 2005, a senior administration official said Thursday.

The department plans to submit a request to the Office of Management and Budget "within a week" asking that it give ICE more funds, said outgoing DHS Deputy Secretary James Loy.

The reprogramming request would be "somewhere around $280 million," Loy told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security. ICE needed an additional $300 million last year in order to get through fiscal 2004.

ICE's financial problems have resulted in a hiring freeze for more than a year and severe spending restrictions. In September, the bureau ordered its offices to refrain from nonessential spending such as travel, temporary duty assignments, equipment and supply purchases and permanent change-of-station moves.

The budget problems also have raised speculation that ICE might be merged into the Customs and Border Protection bureau. The Washington Times reported Wednesday that agency officials and congressional investigators said there have been preliminary discussions on a merger of the two agencies or the designation of ICE as a separate Office of Investigations within CBP.

Loy told Government Executive he does not think merging ICE into CBP is the right thing to do. He said the department needs to give ICE more time to prove itself.

During the hearing, Loy said he believes ICE's budget problems will be solved through the fiscal 2006 budget request. The department requested a larger increase for ICE than any other agency. ICE would get about $4.4 billion, which is a 13.4 percent increase over 2005.

"I believe the structural problems will be solved with the '06 budget that has come forward," Loy said. "I am still concerned that we will have to live through a very difficult '05."

Loy said the problems for ICE began when the department underestimated a baseline budget for the bureau when it was created. "The ICE baseline came up short initially and has manifested itself through '04 and '05."

Subcommittee Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky., criticized the department for not being more forthcoming with information about ICE's financial status. Rogers said the subcommittee has been expecting the reprogramming request for five months.

"We understand the reprogramming delay is primarily because DHS has been unable to clearly define the magnitude of ICE's funding shortfall," Rogers said.

The department also missed a Feb. 8 deadline to submit a report on fixing ICE's financial problems and overhauling the bureau's financial management structure, Rogers said.

Loy said department officials wanted to meet with new DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff before submitting the reprogramming request and report.

"With some direction from [Chertoff], we will reshape that slightly and get on with making sure we don't find ourselves in August or September of this year with [another] reprogramming request," Loy added.

Rogers said, however, that the subcommittee will not approve a reprogramming request until it is assured that ICE structural problems are solved.

"There is a quid pro quo here," Rogers said. "If you will fix the problem, we will furnish the money."