Department of Justice FY 2013 Budget Request

Attorney General Eric Holder announced today that President Obama’s FY 2013 Budget proposal totaling $27.1 billion for the Department of Justice identifies over $1 billion in efficiencies, savings and rescissions while providing resources to sustain critical national security programs, uphold the department’s traditional missions with an increased focus on financial and mortgage fraud and civil rights enforcement, invest in prisons and detention capacity, and assist our state, local and tribal law enforcement partners. The request represents a 0.4 percent decrease in budget authority from the FY 2012 enacted level.

“The President’s Budget request will provide the department with the resources necessary to continue protecting the American people from terrorism and other urgent threats to our national security.  It will enable us to safeguard citizens from violent crime and threats to the most vulnerable among us. And it will strengthen critical efforts to combat financial and mortgage fraud, while recognizing the valuable role of state, local and tribal law enforcement partners in achieving national goals,” said Attorney General Holder. “As in previous years, this budget incorporates department-wide savings and efficiencies while identifying new ways to cut costs without affecting our core missions.”

The $27.1 billion budget request includes program increases for critical administration priorities, including $55 million to investigate and prosecute financial and mortgage crimes; $31.8 million to increase funding for traditional missions, including $5 million in new money to prevent human trafficking, hate crimes and police misconduct; and $141.2 million for prisons and detention to ensure prisoners and detainees are confined in secure facilities. The budget addresses the federal prison population by allowing eligible inmates to earn sentence reductions for good behavior and participation in certain reentry programs, freeing up federal prison space and reducing long-term costs. In addition, the budget provides $4 billion to sustain the department’s critical national security mission and nearly $2 billion in funding to maintain security along the Southwest Border. Finally, the budget continues to foster valued partnerships through state, local and tribal assistance to enhance public safety, protect women and children, and reduce recidivism.

The Department of Justice’s key priorities include:

·          $4 billion to sustain national security;

·          $55 million increase for investigating and prosecuting financial and mortgage fraud;

·          $31.8 million increase to uphold traditional law enforcement, immigration and litigation-related missions;

·          $8.6 billion for federal prisons and detention;

·          $2 billion to maintain assistance to state, local and tribal law enforcement;

·          Over $1 billion in administrative efficiencies, programmatic savings redirections in grant programs and rescissions from balances. 

National Security

Defending national security from both internal and external threats remains the Department of Justice’s highest priority. The FY 2013 Budget request provides a total of $4 billion to maintain critical counterterrorism and counterintelligence programs and sustain recent increases for intelligence gathering and surveillance capabilities.

The administration supports critical national security programs within the department, including those led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Security Division (NSD). In FY 2011, the FBI dedicated approximately 4,200 agents to investigate more than 33,000 national security cases. NSD has continued to carry out its primary functions to prevent acts of terrorism and espionage in the United States and to facilitate the collection of information regarding the activities of foreign agents and powers.

Investigating cybercrime and protecting our nation’s critical network infrastructure is a top priority of the department. The President’s FY 2013 Budget request maintains recent increases for the FBI’s cyber terrorism investigations, the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force (NCIJTF) and the forensic examination of digital evidence. In addition, other department components have made critical investments to protect U.S. citizens and secure our homeland, and these components will continue their efforts in FY 2013.

For more information, view the National Security Fact Sheet at http://www.justice.gov/jmd/2013factsheets/.

Financial and Mortgage Fraud

The administration and the Department of Justice remain committed to investigating and prosecuting financial fraud that harms the American people and the financial markets. To strengthen our efforts at combating this fraud, we propose a program increase of $55 million for financial and mortgage fraud initiatives to complement ongoing efforts to root out various forms of fraud, including health care fraud, that are supported by existing direct resources and reimbursable funding.

The department plays a crucial role in the federal financial recovery effort through criminal and civil litigation. The FY 2013 Budget requests resources that will strengthen the department’s ability to pursue large-scale financial fraud investigations so Americans’ investments are protected. The department will increase its efforts to help restore confidence in our markets, protect the federal Treasury and defend the interests of the U.S. government.

The department requests program increases for a variety of economic fraud enforcement efforts, including work being done by Department of Justice members of the President’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. This increase will support additional FBI agents, criminal prosecutors, civil litigators, investigators, forensic accountants and other support positions. The additional resources will support the department’s investigation and prosecution of the broad range of crimes that fall under the definition of financial fraud, including securities and commodities fraud, investment scams and mortgage foreclosure schemes.

For health care fraud enforcement, the department uses funding provided by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The FY 2013 Budget for HHS requests an additional $71.7 million for the department to address health care fraud. This increase will strengthen and expand Department of Justice and HHS’ Medicare Fraud Strike Forces, support the expansion of the department’s civil litigation efforts, specifically in areas such as pharmaceutical fraud and off-label marketing, and provide additional resources in our efforts to eliminate abuse and substandard care in public health care facilities, Medicare and Medicaid funded nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.

For more information, view the Financial and Mortgage Fraud Fact Sheet and the Health Care Fraud Fact Sheet at http://www.justice.gov/jmd/2013factsheets/

Traditional Missions

The budget requests program increases for transnational enforcement of intellectual property law. In addition, it requests increases to address new emerging cyber security threats, including insider threats; provide advanced intrusion detection and response capabilities; and implement cost efficient, scalable enterprise information technology architecture. Budget increases also support operational and administrative expenses in pursuit of the department’s transnational organized crime enforcement activities, and provide additional funding for the Office of Tribal Justice, the Office of the Inspector General and the Office of the Pardon Attorney.

The department also maintains substantial responsibilities with respect to immigration, including, but not limited to, enforcement, detention, judicial functions, administrative hearings and litigation. The FY 2013 Budget requests funds for the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) to expand the Legal Orientation Program, which educates detained aliens on EOIR immigration proceedings. This allows detained aliens to make more informed decisions early in the adjudication process, reducing overall program costs for both EOIR courts and Department of Homeland Security detention programs.

Finally, the department requests additional resources to provide for the vigorous enforcement of the nation’s civil rights laws. The FY 2013 Budget requests resources for the Civil Rights Division to address areas such as human trafficking, hate crimes, voting rights enforcement and fair lending enforcement. Funds are also requested for the Community Relations Service.

For more information, view the Traditional Missions Fact Sheet at http://www.justice.gov/jmd/2013factsheets/

Prisons and Detention

The department has made strategic investments in law enforcement initiatives that have improved the nation’s security and made communities safer. The result of these important enforcement efforts has been an expansion in the need for prison and detention capacity. The department continues to prioritize the maintenance of secure, controlled detention and prison facilities, as well as investment in programs that can reduce recidivism. The FY 2013 Budget requests a total of $8.6 billion for prisons and detention. The request invests in prisons and detention capacity, providing $223.9 million in prison and detention adjustments and $141.2 million for program increases to maintain current services, improve prisoner reentry and ensure prisoners are confined in secure facilities.

For the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), the budget includes resources to fully activate two prisons: Federal Corrections Institution (FCI) Aliceville, Ala., and FCI Berlin, N.H. These prisons received partial activation funding in FY 2012, which will increase federal prison capacity and alleviate overcrowding and related security issues. BOP also plans to expand the residential drug abuse treatment program (RDAP), in support of Second Chance Act objectives. The requested funding will help BOP reach the goal of providing 12-month sentence credits for completion of the RDAP program to all eligible inmates, resulting in fewer taxpayer resources directed at housing inmates.

Program increases are essential to help BOP keep pace with a growing inmate population and to ensure the secure detention of an increased number of inmates. Increases for BOP include funds to begin activation of two prisons, U.S. Penitentiary Yazoo City, Miss. and FCI Hazleton, W.Va.

For more information, view the Prisons and Detention Fact Sheet at http://www.justice.gov/jmd/2013factsheets/

State, Local and Tribal Law Enforcement

In total, the FY 2013 budget requests $2 billion for state, local and tribal law enforcement assistance. These funds will allow the department to continue to support our state, local and tribal partners who fight violent crime, combat violence against women and support victim programs.  The department continues to maintain key partnerships with state, local and tribal community members through programs such as the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant program. 

The FY 2013 Budget request for the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), a total of $412.5 million ($268 million in direct funding) with the balance funded through receipts from the Crime Victims Fund (CVF), will provide communities with the opportunity to combat sexual assault and violence against women.  The request includes an increase of $3.5 million to the Rural Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Enforcement Assistance Program, which will improve the safety of children, youth and adults who are victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking by supporting projects uniquely designed to address and prevent these crimes in rural jurisdictions.  The department is requesting $1.4 billion for the Office of Justice Programs’ (OJP) grant programs ($1.18 billion in direct funding, with the balance derived through receipts from the CVF). A total of $20 million is requested for the Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Program, $21 million for Residential Substance Abuse Treatment, $80 million for Second Chance, $70 million for Part B Juvenile Justice Formula Grants and $20 million for a new evidence-based juvenile justice competitive demonstration grant program.

The budget proposes to preserve important OVW and OJP grant programs that directly or indirectly assist victims of crime by funding them through CVF receipts, which continue to surpass historical levels, rather than with discretionary budget authority, which has been declining. Use of these funds will not interfere with formula funding for crime victims, which is fully protected under the proposal. 

For more information, view the State, Local and Tribal Law Enforcement Fact Sheet at http://www.justice.gov/jmd/2013factsheets/

Savings and Efficiencies

The FY 2013 Budget streamlines programs and redirects funding to improve the capabilities of the department. As such, the budget proposes over $1 billion in efficiencies, offsets, redirections of grant program funding and rescissions. Excluding the redirection of grant program funding, the budget includes $647 million in savings, program and management offsets and one-time rescissions of prior year balances to support our highest priority missions.

Savings and efficiencies include information technology savings, space reductions, administrative efficiencies, overhead reductions and operational efficiencies. The department also proposes to consolidate and realign components to increase efficiencies, including refocusing and realigning the National Drug Intelligence Center functions into the Drug Enforcement Administration. In addition, the budget proposes to merge the detention functions currently performed by the Office of the Federal Detention Trustee into the U.S. Marshals Service to better align detention resources with operations, simplify the financial process supporting detention housing and reduce administrative costs. In addition to department-wide initiatives, component-unique program savings have been identified, including expanding BOP’s compassionate release to inmates with medical conditions that have served at least two-thirds of their sentence (excluding those sentences for violent or sex offenses) and implementing proposed legislation to make changes in the federal inmate good conduct time credit incentives.

The department has actively pursued savings and efficiencies in other areas consistent with the President’s Campaign to Cut Waste and will continue to do so in FY 2013. We have made significant efforts to limit and reduce spending in the areas of publication, travel, supplies, fleet, advisory contracts, promotional items and information technology devices to meet or exceed a reduction target of $146 million from FY 2010 levels.

For more information, view the Savings and Efficiencies Fact Sheet at http://www.justice.gov/jmd/2013factsheets/