From FY1999 to FY2008, Congress increased ATF appropriations from $541.6
million to nearly $1.008 billion, an increase of 86%. The FY2008 funding includes
$984.1 million for salaries and expenses and $23.5 million for construction. For the
same 10 years, with some fluctuation, ATF staffing increased from 3,969 to 4,880
full-time equivalent (FTE) positions, a 23% increase. Despite increased funding, the
acting ATF Director, Michael Sullivan, recently testified before Congress that ATF
is currently operating under a $37 million shortfall, as funding for ATF salaries and
expenses was not increased for FY2008. Meanwhile, there is an additional $4
million in the House- and Senate-passed FY2008 emergency supplemental
appropriations for ATF operations in Iraq (H.R. 2642). The Senate-passed bill
includes an additional $15 million for “Project Gunrunner,” a Southwest border
initiative to suppress cross-border gun trafficking from the United States to Mexico.
For FY2009, the Administration has requested $1.028 billion and 4,942 FTE
positions for ATF salaries and expenses, or $44 million and 62 FTE positions more
than the amounts appropriated for FY2008 ($984 million). According to ATF, the
FY2009 request would be allocated among ATF budget decision units in the
following amounts: $740 million (72%) for firearms compliance and investigations,
$267.2 million (26%) for arson and explosives investigations, and $20.6 million (2%)
for alcohol and tobacco diversion.
On the Southwest border with Mexico, firearms violence has spiked sharply in
recent years as drug trafficking organizations have reportedly competed for control
of key smuggling corridors into the United States. In March 2008, President Felipe
Calderón called on the United States to increase its efforts to suppress gun trafficking
from the United States into Mexico. During FY2006 and FY2007, ATF dedicated
approximately 100 special agents and 25 industry operations investigators to disrupt
gun trafficking under Project Gunrunner. By the end of FY2008, ATF plans to have
148 special agents and 55 industry operations investigators deployed to the
Southwest border region; the FY2009 request includes an additional $948 thousand
and 6 FTE positions (12 permanent positions) for those purposes. The House Foreign
Affairs Committee has approved a bill (H.R. 6028) that would authorize $73.5
million to be appropriated over three years to increase ATF resources committed to
disrupting the flow of illegal guns into Mexico. Similar authorizations are included
in S. 2867, H.R. 5863, and H.R. 5869.
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