Homeland Security

Good morning gentlemen. We appreciate your appearing before the subcommittee, and we appreciate your service to the country, particularly during this time of transition for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. I am hopeful that an individual will soon be nominated to be the Director of ICE; that is all the more important in light of the national debate we continue to have about reforming the immigration system. But for this morning, I am happy to have the benefit of your expertise and experience.

Admiral Papp, we are glad to have you before the subcommittee today to discuss the Coast Guard's budget request for fiscal year 2015. And because this is your last appearance before the subcommittee to testify in support of the Coast Guard's budget as Commandant, I want to take the opportunity to thank you for your service: to the Coast Guard, the Department of Homeland Security, and the nation.

The Coast Guard budget request is for $8.1 billion in discretionary funding, a cut of $364.1 million, or 4.5 percent, from the current year appropriation.

I'd like to thank Chairman Rogers, Judge Carter, and Ranking Member Price for their leadership. This subcommittee values our role in protecting our homeland as well as the bipartisan working relationship we foster to meet this goal.

Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary, and welcome. This is your first appearance before our subcommittee and your first opportunity to answer questions on the President's Fiscal Year 2015 budget request. I hope you will find our hearings to be both constructive and beneficial to your mission as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. The relationship between the Appropriations Committee, Cabinet Secretaries, and component heads is critical to ensuring agencies have the resources they need, while protecting taxpayer dollars. We want to be your partners in helping to make the Department successful across the broad range of its mission areas. This subcommittee is inclined to be candid and probing, but I hope our questions will be fair and reasonable.

I'd like to thank Chairman Rodgers, Judge Carter, and Ranking Member Price for their leadership. This subcommittee values our role in protecting our homeland as well as the bipartisan working relationship we foster to meet this goal.

Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY), Ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, today issued the following statement on President Obama's FY 2015 budget request:

"The FY2015 budget and appropriations process offers Congress its best opportunity in years to reject the politics of brinkmanship and crisis management, and instead fulfill our responsibility to invest in our future, create and protect jobs, and support services on which American families rely.

2013 enacted level: $39.6 billion

2014 House bill: $39.0 billion

2014 Omnibus: $39.3 billion

· $10.6 billion for Customs and Border Protection, $220.4 million more than the 2013 enacted level.

· $5.27 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, $158.1 million less than the 2013 enacted level but $122.7 million more than the 2013 post-sequester level.

· $4.93 billion for the Transportation Security Administration, which is $225.8 million less than the 2013 enacted level.

· $10.2 billion for the Coast Guard, including $227 million for overseas contingency operations; the total amount is $202 million less than the 2013 enacted level but $309.2 million more than the 2013 post-sequester level.