HR8206-119

What This Bill Does

This bill funds the Department of Homeland Security for fiscal year 2026 and attaches detailed operating controls to that money. It gives the House explanatory statement binding force for allocations, but cancels the explanatory-statement amounts for Customs and Border Protection Border Security Operations and Immigration and Customs Enforcement by setting those columns to $0. It also ratifies obligations made under the earlier continuing appropriations acts when those obligations maintained essential activity, protected life and property, or allowed orderly shutdown activity.

Most of the bill is a DHS appropriations-control measure. It requires reports on noncompetitive grants and contracts, monthly budget and staffing reports, quarterly acquisition briefings, pilot-program documentation, oversight of Public Law 119-21 funding, FEMA grant timelines, FEMA disaster-relief reporting, migration workload estimates, detention and removal estimates, and Department of Defense border-support requests. It restricts reprogramming, transfers, facility purchases, construction projects without approved prospectuses, Technology Modernization Fund projects, structural pay reforms, use of the section 872 reorganization authority, and transfers into CBP Border Security Operations.

The bill also makes targeted funding and operating changes. It provides $20 million for body-worn cameras for immigration-enforcement officers, $98 million for Coast Guard MQ-9 aircraft and associated stations, $2 million for the National Computer Forensics Institute facilities used by the Secret Service, $30 million for the Supreme Court, and $140 million for FAA air traffic operations tied to a 3.8 percent calendar year 2026 pay increase for air traffic controllers if operational-efficiency conditions are met. It lets CISA use operations funds for cybersecurity threat feeds for federal, state, local, tribal, territorial, fusion-center, and information-sharing users; gives FEMA limited grant-waiver and transfer authorities; allows USCIS to use replacement vehicles and remote biometric supervision; and lets the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers accept construction transfers for special-use training facilities.

The final title changes federal election law. It requires documentary proof of United States citizenship for voter-registration applications for federal elections, requires states to verify citizenship before registering applicants, directs DHS and other federal agencies to provide citizenship-verification information to state election officials, requires removal of noncitizens from federal voter rolls after verified information and notice, directs the Election Assistance Commission to issue implementation guidance, and requires photo identification for federal-election voting with provisional-ballot and affidavit alternatives for limited cases.

Who Benefits and How

Congressional appropriations committees benefit from earlier and more detailed oversight information. The bill requires monthly DHS budget and staffing reports, grant and contract notifications above stated thresholds, acquisition briefings, FEMA grant-announcement notices, Public Law 119-21 obligation plans, migration estimates, and reports before DHS requests Department of Defense border support. The DHS Inspector General also receives a larger oversight role for noncompetitive awards and Public Law 119-21 funds.

Several DHS components receive targeted authority or funding. The Office of the Secretary receives $20 million for body-worn cameras for enforcement officers. The Coast Guard receives $98 million for MQ-9 aircraft procurement, authority to use fiscal year 2026 housing-fund deposits until expended, protection for the legacy Operations Systems Center mission and civil engineering units, and limits on privatization of vessel-documentation work. The Secret Service receives reimbursable training authority, travel flexibility for protective missions, $2 million for National Computer Forensics Institute facilities, and an overtime-cap fix with reporting through 2028. FEMA grant recipients benefit from application deadlines, longer grant periods of performance, waiver authority for SAFER and Assistance to Firefighters grants, and transferred flood-mapping and mitigation balances. CISA and state, local, tribal, territorial, fusion-center, and information-sharing users benefit from cybersecurity threat-feed access.

Some public groups receive direct protections. Pregnant, postpartum, nursing, and infant detainees in CBP custody benefit from required custody standards, while pregnant women in DHS custody are protected from restraints except in narrow safety or therapeutic cases. Individuals in DHS custody benefit from record-preservation rules covering deaths, potential sexual assault, abuse allegations, criminal activity, and disruption allegations. Members of Congress and designated congressional employees benefit from guaranteed oversight access to DHS immigration detention facilities. Individuals bringing personal-use Canadian prescription drugs receive protection against CBP spending that would block qualifying 90-day imports.

The election provisions benefit voters and officials who prioritize stricter citizenship and identification checks for federal elections. State election officials receive federal citizenship-verification support and DHS SAVE access without federal fees, while voters with qualifying citizenship documents or valid photo identification get a clearer federal standard for registration and voting.

Who Bears the Burden and How

DHS leadership and components bear the largest administrative burden. The Secretary, Under Secretary for Management, Chief Financial Officer, Inspector General, TSA Administrator, Coast Guard Commandant, FEMA Administrator, USCIS Director, Secret Service Director, and FLETC Director must comply with new reports, notices, briefings, certification rules, spending restrictions, transfer limits, and documentation requirements. DHS components are barred from using funds for certain pilots, covered intelligence activities, nonautonomous border surveillance systems, reductions to vetting operations, unauthorized facility projects, national identification card planning, first-class travel violations, international conferences above the statutory cap, principal federal official positions, Arms Trade Treaty implementation, certain China-linked entities, and Guantanamo detainee transfers into the United States.

Programs tied to border security and immigration enforcement face tighter congressional control. DHS must report monthly migration, detention, and removal estimates and use those estimates in budget materials. Requests for Department of Defense border-security assistance must be backed by alternatives and cost-benefit analyses. CBP Border Security Operations cannot receive transferred amounts under section 503(c), and the explanatory-statement amounts for Border Security Operations and ICE are set to $0.

State and local election officials bear substantial implementation burdens under the election title. They must require documentary proof of citizenship for federal voter-registration applications, process name discrepancies, create alternative evidence processes, submit voter lists for citizenship checks, remove verified noncitizens after notice, record proof-of-citizenship document details, notify registrants of photo-ID requirements, make digital imaging devices available where practicable, and administer provisional-ballot rules tied to photo identification. Voter-registration applicants without documentary proof of citizenship and voters without qualifying photo identification face higher barriers, possible delays, provisional ballots, and affidavit requirements before their federal-election ballots or registrations are accepted.

Federal taxpayers bear the cost of the additional appropriations for body-worn cameras, Coast Guard aircraft, Secret Service forensic facilities, Supreme Court operations, FAA air traffic operations, and the administrative work required by the reporting, oversight, verification, and grant-management requirements.

Key Provisions

• Requires DHS to report noncompetitive grants and contracts to the Inspector General, monthly budget and staffing data to appropriations committees, and quarterly acquisition-program status for Level 1 and Level 2 acquisitions.
• Appropriates $20 million for body-worn cameras for immigration-enforcement officers and requires a spend plan within 30 days.
• Provides $98 million for Coast Guard MQ-9 aircraft while prohibiting DHS funds from procuring or equipping long-range unmanned aircraft with kinetic capabilities.
• Creates FEMA grant timing, briefing, waiver, period-of-performance, disaster-reporting, and penalty rules, including $100,000 daily reductions for late Disaster Relief Fund reporting or excessive reimbursement-review backlogs.
• Restricts DHS reprogramming and transfers, Technology Modernization Fund proposals, structural pay reforms, section 872 reorganizations, certain facility projects, Arms Trade Treaty implementation, China-linked procurement, and transfers to CBP Border Security Operations.
• Requires monthly southwest-border migration estimates and monthly detention-and-removal estimates to be validated, shared with specified federal agencies and Congress, and used in DHS budget materials.
• Guarantees congressional oversight access to DHS immigration detention facilities and bars temporary facility modifications that would hide what visitors would otherwise observe.
• Requires documentary proof of citizenship for federal voter registration and photo identification for federal voting, with limited provisional-ballot, affidavit, disability-accommodation, overseas-voter, and uniformed-services exceptions.