DHS Funding Package Back-Doors Ryan Budget

The office of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) released a statement on Wednesday blasting Republicans for trying to sneak their budget plan into a measure to fund the Department of Homeland Security next year.

The statement addressed a rule on the funding bill authored by House Republicans “that would “deem” the passage of the rejected budget.”

Indeed, the rule adopted by the House on Tuesday states that the GOP budget — crafted by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) — which passed through the House earlier this year but was rejected last week by the Senate, “shall have force and effect…in the House as though Congress has adopted such concurrent resolution.”

The statement from Pelosi’s office painted Republicans as doubling down on their plan, which includes provisions to reform the structures of both Medicare and Medicaid. Ryan and others in the GOP have argued that the reforms are necessary to preserve the solvency of the programs and reduce the nation’s deficit. However, Democrats, buoyed by their victory in last month’s special election in New York’s 26th congressional district, believe they can retake the majority in the House next year by loudly criticizing the Medicare overhaul.

A spokesman for Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat on the Rules Committee, said yesterday evening that the language “allows the House to act as though the Ryan Budget had passed in the Senate.”

The White House said yesterday that President Obama supports approving a DHS budget, but objects to the fact that the House bill would cut funding for Federal Air Marshals and airport body scanners, as well as FEMA grants to state and local firefighter assistance programs. The White House also said it disapproves of language in the bill that would prevent funds from being used to transfer detainees from the country’s military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba into the U.S.

An official statement of administration policy regarding the bill stated that “the Administration strongly opposes any inclusion of ideological and political provisions that are beyond the scope of funding legislation,” but made no reference to the rule deeming passage of the Ryan budget.

The funding package, also known as H.R. 2017, would give DHS $40.6 billion for fiscal year 2012, a reduction in the agency’s budget by 3% compared to current levels. A final vote is expected to occur by 7:00 pm this evening. Click here for more information about the bill.