CBO estimates that, in total, implementing S. 1199 would cost about $1 million annually, subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
S. 1199 would authorize Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to provide a danger-pay allowance for ICE agents who are assigned to certain overseas posts. ICE expects that 39 employees would receive this allowance and estimates that each person would earn, on average, an additional $13,600 per year; that amount is equivalent to 15 percent of their current pay, which is in line with other agencies that provide danger pay. Thus, CBO estimates that implementing this provision of the bill would cost about $530,000 in 2017, with those costs growing as average salaries increased over time.
In addition, S. 1199 would require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), for five years after enactment, to submit an annual report to the Congress on a DHS task force working to improve border security. The report would include an evaluation of the task force’s effectiveness in enhancing border security, reducing crime, and improving the sharing of information among law enforcement agencies. Based on the cost of similar activities, CBO estimates that the report would cost less than $500,000 annually over the next 5 years.
Enacting the legislation would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO estimates that enacting S. 1199 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2028.
S. 1199 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments.
On May 12, 2017, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 2281, the Border Enforcement Security Task Force Reauthorization Act of 2017, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Homeland Security on May 3, 2017. H.R. 2281 would require DHS to prepare a report similar to the one in S. 1199 but would not authorize danger pay for ICE agents. The estimates of the two versions of the bill reflect that difference.
