Amodei Remarks at FY25 Homeland Security Bill Subcommittee Markup

I would first like to thank the Members of the subcommittee for their participation and insightful questions during our budget hearings over the last few months.

As we put together the bill and report, we made a concerted effort to address as many Member priorities as possible.

The bill before us today provides $64.8 billion within the subcommittee’s budget allocation, and $22.7 billion for major disaster response and recovery activities.

The total within the allocation is $2.9 billion above the fiscal year 2024 level.

The chaos on the border caused by this Administration requires additional resources, so this bill makes the following investments in border security:

• Sustains funding for 22,000 Border Patrol Agents and includes additional hiring flexibility;
• Provides $300 million, a record level of funding, for border security technology;
• Provides $600 million for border barriers;
• And finally, invests $305 million in non-intrusive inspection equipment to detect fentanyl at our nation’s ports of entry.

In addition to our efforts at the border, this bill also includes funding for critical immigration enforcement efforts such as:

Provides more than $3 billion in total to support 50,000 detention beds for ICE, which is 8,500 more beds than were funded in FY2024 and 16,000 more than this Administration requested;

Provides $822.7 million for flights and ground transportation for ICE to execute its statutory authority and remove the more than 1.3 million migrants who are still in this country yet have final orders of removal; and

Includes $60 million to hire more than 250 new law enforcement personnel to investigate transnational criminal activity and help keep our communities safe from those who wish to do us harm.

To counter the growing threat of Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific, we make investments in the U.S. Coast Guard including:

• $335 million dollars for 4 Fast Response Cutters.
• $60 million for a service life extension to enable the Coast Guard to deploy another Medium Endurance Cutter to the region.
• $4.2 million increased maritime engagements with our allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific.

This bill ensures that we fund the core responsibilities of the Department that protects the Homeland.

I want to thank the staff on the subcommittee, both on the majority and minority, for their hard work on the bill and report.

Do any other Members wish to make opening remarks?

Do any Members wish to offer an amendment to the bill?