Review - HR 2471, Division F – CISA Provisions – FY 2022 Spending

Division F of HR 2471, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, is the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2022. As with most annual spending bills, the language is very formulaic and changes little (other than the actual financial numbers) from year to year. The meat of the spending bill is found in the Joint Explanatory Statement (JES) provided by the negotiators (essentially a conference committee) of the final language of the bill. The JES for Division F can be found here. The JES also reaffirms the provisions of the House Appropriations Committee report on HR 4431, the DHS spending bill introduced earlier this year.

The table below shows the spending for CISA in FY 2022. The ‘FY 2021’ numbers are the final approved numbers for last year. The ‘HR 4431’ numbers were those proposed in the standalone House spending bill. And the ‘Division F’ are those included in the final HR 2471 spending bill

($ in thousands)	FY 2021	HR 4431	Division F
CISA Total	$2,024,976	$2,422,348	$2,593,656
Operations	$1,662,066	$1,927,750	$1,992,527
Procurement, Construction	$353,479	$467,167	$590,698
Research and Development	$9,431	$7,431	$10,431

In addition to providing more details about the spending allocations, the JES provides additional congressional reporting requirements over those found in the Committee Report on HR 4431 and one new program is outlined.

For more details about the spending increase allocations and the reporting requirements for Division F, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-2471-division-f-cisa-provisions - subscription required.

Review - HR 4431 Introduced – FY 2022 DHS Spending

Last month Rep Roybal-Allard (D,CA) introduced HR 4431, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2022. As is typical with spending bills, the bill introduced is the version reported by the House Appropriations Committee, so the Committee Report is available. There is little in the bill dealing with cyber (beyond CISA funding, of course), but the Report contains important cybersecurity language.

CISA Spending

The table below shows the overview of CISA spending included in the bill, the data is taken from the Report.

	FY 2021 Funded	FY 2022 Budget	FY 2022 Bill
CISA Total	$2,024,976,000	$2,133,630,000	$2,422,348,000
Operations	$1,662,066,000	$1,691,520,000	$1,927,750,000
Procurement, Const	$353,479,000	$418,179,000	$467,167,000
Research and Development	$9,431,000	$3,931,000	$7,431,000
Cyber Response and Recovery Fund		$20,000,000	$20,000,000

The spending for cybersecurity would certainly be increased by this bill. I suspect that we may see further increases before an FY 2022 spending bill makes it to the President’s desk.

Cyber Provisions that Mimic Proposed Legislation

In the Report, the Appropriations Committee recognizes initiatives by the Administration that mimic a variety of bills that are wending their way through the legislative process. This is not an unusual process, as long as Congress is willing to provide the funds, the executive branch has a lot of leeway to standup various programs without specific legislative approval. If the programs are successful (for various meanings of that term) then Congress will, sooner or later, get around to authorizing the program.

Moving Forward

Based upon recent history, this bill is unlikely to be considered by the House as a standalone measure. Significant portions will be included in the inevitable omnibus spending bill that will probably pass later this year. Because of their control of the purse, the mandates from the Report will continue in force.

For more details on the programs and spending in this bill, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-4431-introduced - subscription required.

Bills Introduced – 7-15-21

Yesterday with just the Senate in session, there were 33 bills introduced. Two of those bills will receive additional coverage in this blog:

HR 4431 Making appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2022, and for other purposes. Rep. Roybal-Allard, Lucille [D-CA-40]

HR 4432 Making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2022, and for other purposes. Rep. McCollum, Betty [D-MN-4]

Both of these bills are being reported by the House Appropriations Committee. The text of the bills is already available, but we are waiting on the actual publication of the Committee Report for each bill. While the bills do provide spending totals and limited guidance (at this point, the floor amendment process will change that) most of the meat of committee requirements will be found in the Committee Report for each bill.

That being the case, I will hold off on conducting my reviews until the Committee Reports are actually published by the GPO in the next day or two.