HR 4820 Introduced
FY 2024 THUD Spending
Back in July, Rep Cole (R,OK) introduced HR 4820, the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies [THUD] Appropriations Act, 2024. The House Appropriations Committee published their Report on the Bill. While there are only limited mentions of the topics of cybersecurity, counter-UAS operations and chemical safety in the bill, there are more extensive discussions of those topics in the Report.
Before the House evicted the Speaker, the House Rules Committee called for proposed amendments for HR 4820 to be submitted by October 5th, 2023. A meeting date had not yet been set before administrative chaos ensued.
Cybersecurity
The only mention of cybersecurity in the bill is the obligatory listing for Cyber Security Initiatives on page 6 where the funding ($49 million) for DOT cybersecurity spending is listed. Surprisingly, this is the same amount requested by the Administration, and a slight increase over FY 2023, according to the corresponding discussion in the Report on page 17.
The Report includes fairly detailed discussions about specific cybersecurity issues in:
Cybersecurity (pg 12) – DOT general issues including a requirement for a report to Congress,
Cybersecurity (pg 56) – Amtrak cybersecurity, including a mention of “use of cyber deception capabilities”.
Cybersecurity (pg 57) – WMATA cybersecurity, including the requirement for “an analysis of the Internet of Things and unknown and unauthorized devices in its cybersecurity plan.”,
There were also three in-passing mentions during the discussion about specific programs:
National laboratory partnerships (pg 15)
Small-urban, rural, and tribal transit providers (pg 62), and
Operational technology asset tracking (pg 57).
Counter-UAS Mentions
There are two counter-UAS (cUAS) mentions in the bill. The first is found on page 20, under the heading of ‘Research, Engineering, and Development’ in discussing the spending of funds derived from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, the bill notes: “That any activity carried out using funds made available under this heading for counter-unmanned aerial systems research, testing, and evaluation may be carried out notwithstanding section 46502 of title 49, United States Code, or sections 32, 1030, or 1367 and chapters 119 and 206 of title 18 of such code.” Long-term readers will probably recall that these US Code sections would typically prohibit counter UAS activities.
The second is found in §419. That section prohibits spending any of the funding in the bill for UAS produced in ‘adversary countries’, specifically China. Paragraph (b)(1) provides an exception to that prohibition when the procurement is “for purposes of counter-UAS testing, analysis, training, or aviation safety testing and research.”
On pages 32-3 of the Report, under the heading of ‘Counter-UAS’, there is a discussion about the FAA developing a centralized RDT&E activity looking at cUAS technology. The Committee specifically “provides $10,000,000 to establish a research, development, testing and evaluation Counter-UAS program to address these issues, utilizing the assets of the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center and an R1 university with an active airport and a demonstrated ability to develop applicable radar technology, system integration, and conduct test and evaluation.”
Chemical Safety
There is only a single mention of chemical safety issues in either the bill or report. On page 72 of the bill in the discussion about Emergency Preparedness Grants, the Committee provides that “prior year recoveries recognized in the current year shall be available to develop and deliver hazardous materials emergency response training for emergency responders, including response activities for the transportation of crude oil, ethanol, flammable liquids, and other hazardous commodities by rail, consistent with National Fire Protection Association standards, and to make such training available through an electronic format”.
Proposed Amendments
The House Rules Committee web page for this bill currently lists 145 amendments proposed for consideration when the bill comes to the floor. Those amendments include:
34 Espaillat (NY) Increases and Decreases the Cyber Security Initiatives account,
59 Fallon (TX) Increases funding for Cyber Security Initiative,
136 Higgins (LA) Prohibits funds for FAA interference with Department of Homeland Security Counter-UAS operations at the southwest border,
There are five amendments proposed that would reduce salary to $1 for the following members of the Administration:
Secretary Pete Buttigieg {#4 Greene (R,GA)},
Secretary Marcia Fudge {#7 Greene},
Assistant Secretary Julia Gordon {#8 Norman (R,SC)},
Acting Administrator Polly Trottenberg {#24 Santos (R,NY)}, and
Deputy Secretary Polly Trottenberg {#25 Santos}
Moving Forward
With the November 17th deadline fast approaching, the House needs to move on these spending bills sooner than later. Of course, they need to resolve the Speaker issue before they can resume any legislative work. Unless that resolution includes some sort of power sharing arrangement between moderates in the two parties, the underlying problem that I discussed earlier this summer will remain in effect.