CBO: Secure America Act would provide $69.5 billion in mandatory spending through 2035, mostly 2026–29

The Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday that S. 2, the Secure America Act, would provide $69.545 billion in direct, or mandatory, spending through fiscal 2035, offering the clearest picture yet of the bill’s budget impact after Congress cleared it this week. The estimate covers the version of the legislation passed by the House on June 9 after Senate approval on June 5.

The spending is heavily front-loaded. CBO projected outlays of $8.817 billion in 2026, $15.482 billion in 2027, $17.913 billion in 2028 and $20.038 billion in 2029. After that, projected spending drops to $5.416 billion in 2030 and $1.809 billion in 2031, with smaller amounts continuing through 2035. In other words, most of the money would be spent within the first four fiscal years.

CBO’s June 10 cost estimate also drew clear boundaries around what it analyzed. The office said the bill “will not affect revenues or increase on-budget deficits in any year after 2035.” But it also said it “has not reviewed S. 2 for effects on spending subject to appropriation,” meaning the estimate addresses only the bill’s direct spending provisions and not any broader discretionary costs that could later depend on annual funding decisions by Congress.

That distinction matters because S. 2 provides money outside the regular one-year appropriations cycle. The bill makes direct appropriations, generally available through Sept. 30, 2029, to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security. In practice, that means Congress is setting a multiyear funding commitment in the bill itself rather than leaving those amounts to future annual appropriations measures.

The legislation includes several large appropriations that illustrate the scope of the package, though they are not a full accounting of the $69.545 billion total CBO scored. Section 101 provides $9.55 billion for CBP personnel. Section 102 provides $7.45 billion for ICE. Section 103 provides $3.45 billion for border security technology and screening-related CBP activities. Section 104 adds $2.5 billion for DHS. One narrower provision directs $108.5 million of ICE funding to hire, pay and equip additional child-exploitation investigators and forensics analysts for Homeland Security Investigations.

Congress approved the measure on narrow votes: 52-47 in the Senate on June 5 and 214-212 in the House on June 9. It has been sent to the president.

The bill moved through Congress under budget reconciliation, a special process tied to the budget resolution that allows certain tax-and-spending legislation to pass the Senate by a simple majority instead of the usual 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. That procedure, rather than any shift in the chamber’s vote threshold, is what allowed S. 2 to clear the Senate with 52 votes.

The budget score arrives after a protracted Department of Homeland Security funding fight earlier in 2026, but CBO’s estimate is narrowly focused: how much direct spending the bill provides, when that money is expected to go out the door, and what the agency did not evaluate. On those points, the picture is straightforward — about $69.5 billion in mandatory spending, concentrated between 2026 and 2029, with no revenue effects and no CBO review of discretionary spending consequences.