Details of the FY 2006 DHS Appropriations Act's Managers' Statement

This is Part III, the final part of a series of summaries on the conference version of H.R. 2360 and provides additional highlights from the joint explanatory statement of the House and Senate conference managers (managers' statement). (See ITT's Online Archives or 10/14/05 news, 05101405, for Part I, which highlights certain appropriation levels in the measure. See ITT's Online Archives or 10/24/05, 05102410, for Part II, which provides other highlights from the managers' statement.)

(According to the managers' statement, the language and allocations contained in the House report (H. Rept. 109-79) and the Senate report (S. Rept. 109-83) should be complied with unless specifically addressed to the contrary in the conference report and managers' statement. See ITT's Online Archives or 07/18/05 news, 05071810, for the final part of BP's series of summaries of S. Rept. 109-83, with links to other parts in the series and 05/23/05 news, 05052310, for the final part of BP's series of summaries of H. Rept. 109-79, with links to other parts of the series.)

DHS reorganization. The conferees state that since March 2005, DHS has been conducting an internal review of its policies, operations and organizational structure, known as the 'Second Stage Review' and announced a major reorganization reflecting the findings of the review on July 13, 2005. A budget amendment was submitted on July 21, 2005, requesting the appropriations structure be modified for fiscal year 2006 to reflect this reorganization proposal. For the most part, the conferees have complied with these requests.

Among other things, the conferees concur with DHS' decision to abolish the Office of the Under Secretary for Border and Transportation Security (BTS); BTS functions have been merged into other offices and component agencies throughout DHS.

ACE, ITDS, and ACS funding. The conferees agree to provide $456,000,000 instead of $458,009,000 as proposed by both the House and the Senate. This amount includes funding for the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), the International Trade Data System (ITDS), and the costs of the legacy Automated Commercial System (ACS). This funding includes not less than $320,000,000 for ACE and ITDS, of which $16,000,000 is for ITDS, and all of which remains subject to approval of an expenditure plan.

AD enforcement, Byrd Amendment. The conferees have ensured that, of the amounts provided within this account, sufficient funds are available to enforce the antidumping (AD) authority contained in 19 U.S.C. 1675c. The conferees direct CBP to continue to work with the Department of Commerce, the Department of Treasury, the Office of the United States Trade Representative, and all other relevant agencies, to provide semiannual reports on its efforts to collect past due amounts and to increase current collections. Furthermore, by June 30, 2006, CBP is to provide the House and Senate Appropriations Committees with an update of its report submitted on July 7, 2005, describing interagency efforts to create a coordinated plan to increase antidumping and countervailing (CV) duty collections, particularly related to cases involving unfairly traded Asian imports. The report should break out the non-collected amounts for fiscal years 2004 and 2005, by order and claimant, along with a description of the specific reasons for the non-collection with respect to each order.

The conferees direct CBP to confirm that it has completed all of the initiatives, processes, and procedures identified in its February 2005 report to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees (including Attachment 1) regarding implementation of the recommendations that were contained in the U.S. Treasury Department Office of the Inspector General report on the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act (CDSOA, also known as the Byrd Amendment). Further, the conferees direct CBP to implement the five recommendations for executive action contained in the GAO report (GAO-05-979) dated September 2005. If those processes and procedures have not been completed, CBP is directed to provide an explanation as to why they have not been completed, and a deadline for when they will be completed. This includes the deadlines for implementing the processes and procedures for verification, including, in particular, the development of the sampling methodology to validate the claimed amount; the testing plan; and all accompanying aspects of verification. (See ITT's Online Archives or 10/11/05 news, 05101120, for BP summary of GAO-05-979.)

America's Shield Initiative. The conferees have not provided the requested increase of $19,800,000 for America's Shield Initiative (ASI). At this time, the conferees state that they understand DHS is reviewing the entire planning process for ASI and may suspend all major procurement action until it has resolved fundamental questions about scope and architecture, and possibly its relation to overall, nationwide border domain security and awareness. The conferees expect to be kept informed of the results of this review before DHS proceeds with any significant action and concur with House reporting requirements. The conferees encourage program managers to explore the use of commercial, airborne, off-the-shelf wireless technology as it develops this program.

Textile Transshipment Enforcement. Section 352 of the Trade Act of 2002 authorizes funding for Customs Service textile transshipment enforcement, and specifies how the funds be spent. The conferees include $4,750,000 to continue this effort and direct CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to report not later than February 10, 2006, on obligating these funds, as well as those appropriated in fiscal years 2004 and 2005. The report should include staffing levels in fiscal years 2003-2006, differentiated by position, as authorized in section 352 of the Trade Act of 2002, and include a five-year enforcement plan. For CBP, the conferees state that the report should also describe how CBP has redeployed its workforce previously assigned to enter and monitor quota information now that quotas have expired.

Agricultural Inspections. The conferees direct DHS, in coordination with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to submit a report by February 10, 2006, providing the information requested in Senate Report 109-83 concerning reduced agricultural inspection levels.

Tobacco imports. The conferees endorse the requirements set forth in both the House and Senate reports regarding tobacco product imports and direct DHS to comply with them.

Managers statement available at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_cong_reports&docid=f:hr241.109.pdf.