Focus on DHS Shifts to Senate

By: fedweek

The House has passed an appropriations bill for DHS (HR-2638) containing several provisions relating to personnel and agency management that the Bush administration opposes, shifting the focus onto the Senate. The House earlier passed a DHS authorization bill containing some of the same provisions; that bill has not move in the Senate. As it had regarding the prior bill, the White House objected to a provision to grant Customs and Border Protection officers law enforcement officer status for retirement purposes. It said that “CBP officers, while performing an important and necessary function, do not fit this definition and therefore should not be accorded the same treatment as employees whose primary duties are the investigation of criminal offenses.”