White House Budget Includes Two Percent Pay Raise; Details on DOJ, DHS Funding
While Congress is still trying to finalize funding for fiscal year (FY) 2024, the Biden Administration released its FY 2025 budget proposal.
Overall, the White House is asking for $1.63 trillion in total spending, which is just 0.7 percent over FY 2023 enacted levels.
The president’s budget is always the opening salvo in a long-running negotiation with Congress.
While it almost certainly won’t pass in its current form, the budget proposal outlines the administration’s priorities and gives Congress and the American people key insight into the administration’s thinking.
Federal Pay
The budget request contains numerous items that will impact the federal workforce.
On pay, the White House is pushing for a two percent federal pay raise for General Schedule (GS) employees, and a 4.5 percent pay raise for members of the military.
The GS pay raise would be the smallest since President Biden took office but is on par with pre-pandemic raises and comes as inflation is projected to cool. Last year, Feds received an average 5.4 percent raise.
Federal employee groups were not happy.
“We are extremely disappointed in the way this budget turns its back on the long-standing practice of pay raise parity for civilian and military employees of the federal government,” said American Federal of Government Employees (AFGE) President Everett Kelly.
DOJ Budget
The budget for the Department of Justice (DOJ) includes a total of $37.8 billion in discretionary spending, an increase of $467 million, and a total of $10.5 billion in mandatory funding.
“The dedicated men and women of the Justice Department work every day to uphold the rule of law, keep our country safe, and protect civil rights,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “Securing these resources is critical to advancing that mission in service of the American people.”
The budget includes $11.3 billion for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), $2.8 billion for U.S. Attorney Offices, $2.7 billion for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), $1.9 billion for the U.S. Marshals Service, and $2 billion for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
It also includes $1.6 billion in discretionary funding and $3.5 billion in mandatory funding to fight violent crime and reduce gun violence through programs like the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Hiring Program, the Gun Crime Prevention Strategic Fund, and the new Violent Crime Reduction and Prevention Fund (VCRPF), plus $4.7 billion to support state and local law enforcement and community violence prevention.
It also includes $7.7 billion for programs to protect national security, enhance cybersecurity, and fight cybercrime.
DHS Budget
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would receive $62.2 billion in discretionary funding, plus $22.7 billion for the Disaster Relief Fund and $4.7 billion for the Southwest Border Contingency Fund. All told, the request for DHS is a ten percent increase over FY 2023.
That includes $26 billion to meet the core budget requirements of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), plus an additional $600 million to staff up the border, improve technology there, speed up the processing of refugee cases, and counter fentanyl trafficking.
However, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas wrote that while the budget request is “vital” to border security, DHS desperately needs the additional $19 billion in border security funding that was part of a Senate supplemental.
“The President's Budget continues to invest in the security of our borders, even as we continue to call on Congress to pass the February bipartisan border security legislation to provide urgently needed resources and tools to our frontline personnel,” wrote Secretary Mayorkas.
Other DHS Priorities
In addition to the border, the DHS budget includes funds to:
· Fund the DHS Special Events Program, which works to keep major events safe from terrorism.
· Continue operational funding for the U.S. Maritime Security Operations
· Invest in cybersecurity protection and emergency communications
· $5 million for the Department’s Chief AI Officer (CAIO)
· Invest in a disaster resilient nation, including $3.2 billion for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grants
· Protect the homeland from threats of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs)
· Increase Coast Guard presence in the Indo-Pacific region
· Modernize Transportation Security Administration (TSA) pay and workforce policies
· Secure the 2024 presidential campaign
Congress is beginning budget hearings to hear from agency leaders on their FY25 funding requests.