S. 4243 would establish a council within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) tasked with providing recommendations on matters of trade and economic security to the Secretary of DHS. The council would brief the House and Senate Homeland Security Committees on its activities every six months for a period of four years, beginning 180 days after the bill’s enactment. S. 4243 also would create the position of Assistant Secretary for Trade and Economic Security within the Office of Strategy, Policy, and Plans.
Based on information from DHS, the agency currently has an Assistant Secretary for Trade and Economic Security and is already undertaking some of the activities required by the bill. As a result, CBO estimates that implementing S. 4243 would cost less than $500,000 over the 2023-2027 period.
On January 27, 2022, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 4476, the DHS Trade and Economic Security Council Act of 2021, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Homeland Security, on October 26, 2021. The pieces of legislation are different, and CBO’s estimates of their budgetary effects reflect those differences. H.R. 4476 specifically authorizes the appropriation of $3 million annually over the 2022-2026 period. S. 4243, as ordered reported, did not include that specified authorization of appropriations.
