[Senate Hearing 117-]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]




 
  DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2022

                              ----------                              

                                       U.S. Senate,
           Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations,
                                                    Washington, DC.
                                                    

                       NONDEPARTMENTAL WITNESSES

    [The following testimony was received by the Subcommittee 
on Homeland Security for inclusion in the record. The submitted 
material relates to the fiscal year 2022 budget request for 
programs within the subcommittee's jurisdiction.]
 Prepared Statement of America's Public Television Stations (APTS) and 
                 the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
    Regarding funding to create a new program at FEMA to support public 
broadcasting's public safety infrastructure:
                   the next generation warning system
    As this subcommittee considers the FY 2022 Homeland Security 
Appropriations Bill, America's Public Television Stations (APTS), 
representing the nation's 354 locally operated, locally controlled 
public television stations, and PBS urge the subcommittee to provide 
$20 million for the Next Generation Warning System (NGWS) within FEMA's 
Federal Assistance grants.
    This new competitive grant program would maintain and enhance 
public broadcasting stations' current work to provide alert, warning 
and interoperable communications, in partnership with federal, state 
and local law enforcement and first responder agencies, and would 
enable the incorporation of emerging technology in those life-saving 
activities.
        public television's role in public safety communications
    Public broadcasting has long played a critical role in supporting 
local, regional and national first responders and the public safety and 
homeland security community. While you may be familiar with the tones 
and notices that accompany testing of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) 
during radio and television broadcasts, you may not realize the other 
important services that local public television and radio stations, 
which together reach nearly 99 percent of the American population, 
provide:

  --Public television, through the PBS Warning Alert Response Network 
        (WARN), provides critical distribution infrastructure for the 
        nation's Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system, a unique 
        public-private partnership between FEMA, the FCC, and industry 
        established by Congress in 2006 for sending locally-targeted 
        and nationwide emergency messages.

    In 2020, during the first 10 months of the pandemic, over 500 
        COVID-19 alerts were sent to millions of mobile devices using 
        the WEA system. In addition to public television stations 
        providing a diverse redundant path for these and all WEA 
        messages, PBS has developed an application called Eyes on IPAWS 
        that provides data analytics and a live feed of WEAs directly 
        from local public television stations, without relying on 
        internet access. This tool was piloted by California's Office 
        of Emergency Services and is now available to any agency.

  --Many public television and radio stations, equipped with back-up 
        communications equipment and power generators, cooperate with 
        FEMA to serve as their state's Primary Entry Point (PEP) to 
        provide emergency information to the public before, during and 
        after incidents and disasters.

.  --Since 2016, public television has partnered with the Department of 
        Homeland Security to conduct pilot projects demonstrating how 
        stations' dedicated spectrum and infrastructure can be used to 
        send encrypted data such as video, files, images and text from 
        local authorities to first responders on the ground or on the 
        water.

    This datacasting technology does not depend on broadband, is 
available in rural and remote areas due to public television's 
extensive reach, is a one-to-many communications system that never 
overloads, and has proven to be a valuable tool in a myriad of use 
cases including:

  --Improved emergency response:

    --In North Carolina, PBS North Carolina has been working with the 
            North Carolina Department of Informational Technology 
            (NCDIT)'s First Responder Emerging Technologies (FirstTech) 
            program and the Department of Homeland Security to use 
            public television datacasting and NextGen television 
            technology to deliver an improved and affordable paging 
            structure that improves situational awareness and response 
            time for first responders across the state of North 
            Carolina.

    --In Tennessee, public television stations worked with the state to 
            create a statewide datacasting system that delivers 
            private, secure communication between first responders and 
            their management teams in case of an emergency or natural 
            disaster. The Tennessee National Guard is an important 
            partner in this project and has affirmed the usefulness of 
            datacasting in their disaster response efforts.

  --Improved interoperability:

    --In multiple pilots conducted in partnership with local stations 
            and DHS, one of the main benefits identified has been the 
            increased interoperability between responding agencies. 
            Datacasting allows all agencies to see the same data, at 
            the same time, regardless of where they are located and how 
            they might otherwise connect--or not connect--with each 
            other. This interoperability has significantly improved 
            response time and success.

  --Over-Water Communications:

    --A few DHS pilots, including one in Chicago, IL, have proven the 
            effectiveness of datacasting to reach far offshore, in 
            areas where traditional communications capabilities are 
            lacking. Because broadcast towers typically reach much 
            further than cell or broadband connections--distances of 60 
            miles or more--datacasting can greatly enhance 
            communication of urgent information to vessels, including 
            moving vessels, at sea and inland waters.

  --Rural Search and Rescue

    --A DHS pilot in a rural location in the state of Washington showed 
            how datacasting could help with rural search and rescue in 
            remote mountainous areas that lack more traditional LTE or 
            broadband infrastructure. Images captured from helicopters 
            were shared via datacasting with responders on the ground 
            who otherwise would not have the visual information to 
            accelerate their response.

  --Enhanced School Safety

    --In 2018, a DHS pilot conducted in Adams County, Indiana 
            demonstrated how datacasting could help multiple first 
            responding agencies in the event of a school shooting. A 
            drill was conducted in a very rural part of the county that 
            lacked LTE or broadband connectivity inside of the school, 
            and datacasting was used to share video feeds from inside 
            of the school, blueprints of the building, campus maps and 
            other important data with multiple local and state first 
            responders.

  --Earlier Earthquake Alert and Warning

    --For the past few years, the California public television stations 
            have been working with the California Governor's Office of 
            Emergency Services (Cal OES) to utilize datacasting to 
            dramatically reduce the amount of time it takes to alert 
            first responders that an earthquake is on the way. Public 
            television stations throughout the state have worked to add 
            equipment to their broadcasting infrastructure that sends 
            earthquake warnings to local first responders in seconds. 
            This work has resulted in the reduction of alert time from 
            30 seconds to less than 3 seconds.

  --Large Event Crowd Control

    --Houston Public Media participated in one of the early DHS pilots 
            which demonstrated the benefits of datacasting for 
            interoperability of multiple responding agencies. Since 
            that pilot in 2014, with the equipment remaining in place 
            at the station level and first responder level, datacasting 
            has been used by public safety and first responders at 
            several large events held in the city including: the 
            Houston Marathon, NCAA Final Four, the Super Bowl, a 
            Presidential Primary Debate, and more. Using datacasting to 
            share images and critical information across multiple 
            responding agencies has greatly enhanced situational 
            awareness and public safety at these events.

    America's public television stations are working to develop more 
public safety partnerships that could utilize datacasting to solve some 
the nation's most pressing public safety needs.
   support for public broadcasting's role in emergency communications
    While public broadcasting's public safety capabilities may not be 
well known to the public, they have been recognized and encouraged by 
the public safety community.
    On February 15, 2019 the FEMA National Advisory Council issued a 
report on Modernizing the Nation's Public Alert and Warning System, 
which clearly recognizes the importance of public broadcasting's role 
in public safety and identifies a need for continued partnerships, 
recommending that FEMA encourage ``use of public broadcast capabilities 
to expand alert, warning, and interoperable communications capabilities 
to fill gaps in rural and underserved areas.''
    After the 2018 school safety exercise, Shane L. Rekeweg, Sheriff, 
Adams County, Indiana said, ``Datacasting has the potential of 
providing key visual information to first responders for incidents 
where this technology is used,'' he continued ``Today's demonstration 
showed that datacasting does in fact provide the quality and quantity 
that first responders need for faster response resulting in saving more 
lives in critical incidents.''
    In an assessment of the use of datacasting, Jack Hanagriff, the Law 
Enforcement Liaison in Houston's Office of Public Safety and Homeland 
Security said ``datacasting provides the ability to deliver secure, 
high-quality data and video to emergency services personnel. Getting 
that ``eyes-on'' look at a situation or specific location is a huge 
help to the first responders. Having that real-time, crucial video 
delivered reliably, lets the different teams know what they're heading 
for, and how to prepare for it.''
       public safety communications infrastructure funding needed
    These critical services, in addition to other public safety 
partnerships between public broadcasters and the public safety 
community, depend on reliable and resilient public broadcasting 
infrastructure. However, in many cases, station infrastructure is being 
used well past its expected useful life and is at serious risk of 
failure. Such a failure would interrupt the public safety services 
public media provides.
    A 2017 study commissioned by the Corporation for Public 
Broadcasting found that a backlog of $300 million in unmet 
infrastructure needs at public media stations through 2020.
    This aging infrastructure--transmitters, antennas, encoders, 
receivers, power generators and related hardware, software, and 
electrical equipment--endangers the ability of public broadcasting to 
continue to provide life-saving public safety services.
    In order for public broadcasting to remain a reliable public safety 
partner, additional infrastructure investments are needed.
    We call on Congress to support the investment in this critical 
infrastructure through FEMA's Federal Assistance grants.
    The new account, the Next Generation Warning System (NGWS) would 
help stations replace aging infrastructure that is essential to their 
public safety missions. In addition, it will support infrastructure 
needed for enhancements to alert and warning and other public safety 
communications systems to ensure resilience and the ability to meet the 
evolving nature of public safety challenges.
    A funding level of $20 million in FY 2022 will begin this much 
needed investment in the capability and reliability of public 
broadcasting's public safety infrastructure.
                                 ______
                                 
  Prepared Statement of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)
    Chairman Murphy, Ranking Member Capito and distinguished members of 
the subcommittee, thank you for allowing me to submit this testimony on 
behalf of America's public media service--1,500 public television and 
radio stations reaching 99 percent of the American people. The 
Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) requests $20 million in FY 
2022 for a newly created Next Generation Warning System (NGWS) within 
the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management 
Agency (FEMA). This funding will reinforce and extend public media's 
contributions to public safety and result in enhanced alerting and 
warning capabilities that benefit all Americans.
    Through local public television and radio stations, public media 
offers educational programming designed to support at-home learning, 
local journalism that gives Americans the information they need to 
respond to the world around them, and content that helps us better 
understand our history and each other. Public media's services proved 
to be critical over the past year as people sought up-to-date, fact-
based information about COVID-19. Stations responded with broadcasts 
featuring local officials, online dashboards and visualizations 
tracking the pandemic, podcasts with local health experts explaining 
the virus, and public safety announcements spoken in different 
languages and local dialects to help encourage vaccine participation.
    Local stations' broadcast infrastructure not only provides the 
educational and informational content Americans expect from public 
media, but it also provides emergency alerting and communications 
services at the national, state, and local levels. Often unnoticed 
until times of emergency, these services direct people to safety and 
transport messages from federal, state, and local emergency management 
and public safety officials. Further, national public media 
organizations and local stations have resilience requirements 
comparable to those of our nation's public safety systems.
    Nationally, the public television interconnection system serves as 
a distribution point for PBS WARN, an essential part of FEMA's 
nationwide Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system. The WEA system relies 
upon public broadcasters to ensure the delivery of messages that 
include imminent threats to life and safety, AMBER alerts, and 
Presidential alerts during a national emergency. Between March 12, 
2020, and January 25, 2021, more than 6,470 WEAs were issued by state 
and local authorities and transmitted over the PBS WARN system in 
different parts of the country. Approximately 525 of those alerts were 
for COVID-19, harnessing the reach and ubiquity of mobile device 
communications to address a pandemic for the first time.
    The public radio interconnection system, Public Radio Satellite 
System(r) (PRSS), managed by NPR, receives a national EAS feed directly 
from FEMA and distributes Presidential emergency alerts to 1,247 public 
radio stations nationwide, including NPR member and non-member 
stations. PRSS is also named as a resource in at least 20 states' 
emergency plans and many of the public radio stations in these twenty 
states serve as Primary Entry Point (PEP) stations. The PRSS national 
network of nearly 400 interconnected public radio stations supports 
secure, reliable communications during emergencies without relying on 
the Internet, which may be off-line during emergencies.
    Stations' infrastructure also provides for public safety and 
communications services tailored to the needs of their communities. In 
times of emergency and disaster, enabled public radio stations use 
MetaPub technology to deliver graphic alerts and messages such as 
weather forecasts and shelter information. For example, California 
stations successfully tested the use of MetaPub alerting during the 
Great California Shakeout earthquake drill in 2016 and demonstrated how 
stations can bring emergency communications to affected audiences. 
During any evacuation in Mississippi, the Mississippi Emergency 
Management Agency works with Mississippi Public Broadcasting (MPB) to 
broadcast evacuation and traffic information on all MPB radio stations. 
MetaPub was also used during the pandemic to direct viewers and 
listeners to local resources and the latest public health guidelines.
    Public media's public safety capabilities are valued and utilized 
by local, state, and federal public safety officials. In 2020, 
California's public media stations partnered with Listos California and 
the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services on a statewide 
media campaign called ``Building Resiliency with Emergency 
Preparedness.'' The cultural and linguistic appropriate campaign is 
designed to reach diverse and underserved populations and encourage 
them to plan for wildfires and other natural disasters. Also in 2020, 
the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network (FPREN) partnered with the 
Florida Division of Emergency Management to launch a statewide 
communications initiative, ``Know Your Zone, Know Your Home.'' The PSA 
campaign emphasized the importance of knowing where you live and how 
that impacts your hurricane evacuation plans. With a mission to serve 
the community combined with trusted partnerships with public safety 
officials, public media stations help keep Americans prepared and safe.
    Public media's capabilities and involvement in public safety are 
evolving with the modern needs of local first responders and the 
communities they serve. Increasingly, stations are partnering with 
local first responders and emergency management officials to offer 
datacasting technology. Through datacasting, the television broadcast 
spectrum is used to securely transmit essential encrypted information 
to first responders in the field in real-time and without the capacity 
constraints of traditional mobile or broadband delivery. Datacasting 
applications can include equipping police cars with the ability to 
receive school blueprints when a crisis arises; providing access to 24/
7 camera feeds for public safety challenges; and connecting public 
safety agencies in real-time.
    Initially tested in partnership with the U.S. Department of 
Homeland Security, datacasting technology has been utilized during 
numerous events in the last several years, including the NCAA Final 
Four, the Super Bowl, and Hurricane Harvey and the flooding of 2016. In 
2018, KVIE public television in Sacramento, CA, worked with the 
California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) to test public 
television's datacasting capability to more rapidly deliver early 
earthquake warnings. The station's datacasting delivered an early 
earthquake warning in under three seconds. The previous warning 
standard was 30 seconds. Recently, in Tennessee, public television 
stations (WKNO, Memphis; WLJT, Lexington; WNPT, Nashville; WCTE, 
Cookeville; East Tennessee PBS, Knoxville; and WTCI, Chattanooga) 
partner with the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security 
to form the first statewide datacasting network.
    In June 2018, the FCC's CSRIC Working Group 2 issued a final report 
on ``Comprehensive Re-imaging of Emergency Alerting,'' which recognizes 
public television's important service in our nation's public safety 
system. Section 6.4 states, ``PBS and local public television stations 
play a crucial role in protecting communities by using datacasting to 
deliver essential information to individuals and first responders. 
These benefits are all made possible by public broadcasting stations' 
unique reach, reliability, and role across America, and are especially 
vital in rural and underserved areas.''
    While public media stations are dedicated to serving the needs of 
their communities, their ability to provide these life-saving public 
safety services relies on technical infrastructure that is often aging 
past its expected end-of-life. In 2017, CPB commissioned a 
comprehensive System Technology Assessment to understand better public 
media stations' technology needs. The station response rate was 
unprecedented (73 percent of radio and 92 percent of television 
licensees), cataloging more than 60,000 pieces of equipment throughout 
the system. The Assessment projected that the system's financial 
capacity to address equipment repair and replacement would see a 
cumulative shortfall of more than $300 million by 2020. In early 2021, 
a CPB survey of only 10 percent of the public media licensees indicated 
that there is at least $175 million in equipment needs. Without 
resources to maintain and replace broadcast transmission infrastructure 
on schedule, as well as recover from the gap in maintenance during 
COVID-19, TV and radio licensees of all sizes and types could face 
operating challenges nationwide, disrupting the essential public safety 
service these stations provide.
    Addressing the growing need for resilient public safety 
infrastructure, the Next Generation Warning System (NGWS) will enable 
the expansion and enhance the reliability of the alert, warning and 
interoperable communications activities that public broadcasting 
stations are committed to, while providing first responders and public 
safety officials with new communication resources. NGWS would allow for 
public broadcasting entities to procure, construct, and improve 
transmission and other public safety-related equipment and services 
that secure and strengthen public media's role in helping protect and 
preserve American communities.
    Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, thank you for 
allowing me, on behalf of America's public media system, to submit this 
testimony. I appreciate your consideration of this funding request.

    [This statement was submitted by Patricia de Stacy Harrison, 
President and CEO, Corporation for Public Broadcasting.]
                                 ______
                                 
       Prepared Statement of Customs and Border Protection Agency
    Dear Chairperson Murphy, Ranking Member Capito and Honored Members 
of the Homeland Security Subcommittee, my name is John Kelton, and I 
respectfully request your consideration to approve appropriations for a 
device to protect frontline personnel from unintentional synthetic 
opioid exposure.
                     fentanyl and synthetic opioids
    Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid 50 to 100 times the potency of 
morphine. Carfentanil, another synthetic opioid has a potency 
approximately 10,000 times that of morphine and 100 times that of 
fentanyl. The same amount of fentanyl necessary to kill a 250-pound 
human, roughly two grains of salt, can kill one hundred 250-pound 
humans.
                       illicit synthetic opioids
    Synthetic opioids are laced into other drugs such as cocaine, 
heroin, methamphetamine, and counterfeit tablets resulting in tens of 
thousands of deaths reaching a new record in 2021 thus far. The residue 
on fake tablets and fine powders containing synthetic opioids are 
easily inhaled during seizures or border checks causing injury or death 
to frontline personnel or unsuspecting citizens. There are more than 
2000 synthetic opioids, which are not routinely detected because 
specialized toxicology testing is required: Some are more potent than 
Carfentanil and becoming resistant to opioid reversing drugs.
   naloxone and personal protective equipment fall short of exposure 
                               protection
    Naloxone commonly called Narcan is an opioid reversing drug which 
is provided to personnel in the event of an exposure. The Centers for 
Disease Control states, ``more than one dose of naloxone may be needed 
to reverse some overdoses. Naloxone alone may be inadequate if someone 
has taken large quantities of opioids, very potent opioids, or long-
acting opioids.'' In addition, personnel administering naloxone are at 
risk of exposure! General Personal Protective equipment (PPE) i.e., 
masks, gloves etc. are inadequate in preventing situational exposures 
and cross contamination of others and equipment.
department of homeland security, office of strategy and policy science, 
                       and technology directorate
    Frontline personnel are at risk of deadly exposure without specific 
personal protective equipment. A field proven device designated by the 
Department of Homeland Security Office of Strategy and Policy, Science 
and Technology Directorate, to prevent accidental exposure and 
neutralize the threat, has been identified. The handheld personal 
protective device deploys in seconds, prevents aerosolization of deadly 
analogs of fentanyl and weaponized anthrax, stops cross contamination, 
does not prevent analytical or field testing of suspicious powders and 
requires minimal training for effective deployment. This device 
succeeds when common PPE such as gloves, masks, and naloxone are not 
effective.
       nationally, synthetic opioid exposures are occurring daily
    Reports of frontline exposures are common enough; they barely make 
the news. Texas Custom Agent, Michigan State Troopers, Ohio Sheriffs, 
Correction Personnel and First Responders, risk their lives to save 
lives and the threat of unintentional exposure to synthetic opioids is 
a reality because it happens. The coldest comment we have heard was, 
``Yeah, but have any of these people died yet?'' I am asking for your 
consideration before that 'benchmark' is achieved.
  synthetic opioid exposure prevention device for frontline personnel
           departments of commerce and justice, science, and
               related agencies appropriations bill, 2020
    ``The Committee is aware of far too many incidents of first 
responders experiencing accidental overdoses after coming into contact 
with fentanyl or fentanyl analogues,''
             lake county sheriff's office lt. john herrell
    ``All we can do is speak to what we've seen, not only in Lake 
County but across the nation, and it is a common occurrence that first 
responders and law enforcement fall ill and start displaying signs of 
opioid overdose.''
            senior medical advisor/customs and border patrol
    Dr. David Tarantino stated, ``The most significant exposure risk is 
through aerosolized airborne powder,'' when referring to illicit 
fentanyl.
                   centers for disease control policy
    CDC Protocol, ``Increase the amount of naloxone on hand, given the 
increased amount needed and rate of use for overdoses involving 
illicitly manufactured fentanyl and fentanyl analogs.''
         president of the american society of anesthesiologists
    J.P. Abenstein stated, ``What happens, is people stop breathing on 
it. The more narcotic you take, the less your body has an urge to 
breath.''
    as naloxone becomes less effective, frontline personnel are at 
   increased risk of injury or death from synthetic opioid exposure 
                   without a rapid containment device
    Frontline personnel are at risk of deadly exposure without specific 
personal protective equipment. A field proven device designated by the 
Department of Homeland Security Office of Strategy and Policy, Science 
and Technology Directorate, to prevent accidental exposure and 
neutralize the threat, has been identified. The handheld personal 
protective device deploys in seconds, prevents aerosolization of deadly 
analogs of fentanyl and weaponized anthrax, stops cross contamination, 
does not prevent analytical or field testing of suspicious powders and 
requires minimal training for effective deployment. This device 
succeeds when common PPE such as gloves, masks, and naloxone are not 
effective. After presenting this device the United States Customs and 
Border Patrol, and Coast Guard view this device as playing an essential 
role in the PPE arsenal necessary to protect our frontline personnel 
from accidental exposures.
    The real threat of unintentional synthetic opioid exposure is a 
serious concern which spurred bipartisan sponsorship of the Synthetic 
Opioid Exposure Prevention and Training Act. ``The act requires 
provisions for personal protective equipment and opioid receptor 
antagonists for officers, agents, other personnel, and canines at risk 
of exposure to synthetic opioids.''
    Synthetic opioids some of which are thousands of times stronger 
than fentanyl pour into the United States from China because ``the 
companies making fentanyl and other dangerous drugs are subsidized by 
the government (AP).'' Synthetic opioids and agents of terror such as 
anthrax, have identical routes of exposure. Aerosolization and 
inhalation, resulting in rapid absorption through the lungs.
    As naloxone struggles to reverse injuries of opioid toxicity, 
frontline personnel are at increased risk without a specific device 
designed to prevent the exposure and cross contamination of others.

Honored Members of the Homeland Security Subcommittee,

    There is a threat from abroad which has killed hundreds of 
thousands of Americans and threatens the safety and lives of personnel 
we ask to protect our sovereignty and families. Common PPE is not 
enough to protect them, nor is naloxone as it becomes less effective 
against the strength of synthetic opioids.
    I have presented this information to Congressional Leaders and 
Senators from Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia, and others with incredible 
support, and some of which submitted requests for appropriations to 
provide this protection to our frontline personnel. I again, humbly 
request that your committee approve the funding necessary to provide 
frontline personnel with a handheld containment device with the ability 
to prevent the exposure from happening.

                                   Sincerely,

                                           John Kelton
                                 ______
                                 
        Prepared Statement of the Customs and Border Protection
    Thank you for the opportunity to submit written testimony for the 
public record in consideration of the Subcommittee's consideration of 
the Fiscal Year 2022 appropriations bill for Homeland Security and 
associated agencies.
    I am originally from southern California and my husband is from 
southern Arizona. After a career spent in public service, we moved back 
to the West and chose Tucson, Arizona, in large part because of the 
fabulous public lands, wildlife and culture of the borderlands. In 
particular, we treasure Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge and San 
Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge, Organ Pipe Cactus National 
Monument, especially the Quitobaquito area, and the Coronado National 
Memorial. We also cherish the San Pedro River and the Riparian National 
Conservation Area, surrounding what used to be (before a wall was 
inserted into it), the last free flowing river in Arizona.
    We have watched in horror at the despoliation of the borderlands in 
the name of ``security''. We have hiked and camped on public lands 
within walking distance of the border and never experienced any threat 
whatsoever to our public safety. Indeed, a good friend hiked for over 
2,000 miles in Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in a two year 
period and never saw a single undocumented person. Perhaps even more 
impressively, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff actually 
declined to approve the use of military construction funding to build 
31 miles of wall along the southern boundary of Cabeza Prieta National 
Wildlife Refuge, saying it was a ``low priority'' (General Joseph E. 
Dunford, Chairman, Joints Chief of Staff to Acting Secretary of 
Defense, Info Memo, 6 May 2019). He was overruled. So now we have a 
wall there and a wall in other places that makes absolutely no sense--
where there was little to no border crossings. In some of these areas, 
like Guadalupe Canyon in southeast Arizona, incredibly rugged, 
virtually impassable mountains have now been blasted and roaded in a 
way that actually facilitates cross border traffic, rather than 
deterring it. And I know of no one in Arizona--whether a rancher, a 
land manager, a recreational user of public lands--anyone at all--who 
thinks this place is safer because we have hundreds of miles of road. 
This $18 billion boondoggle (and counting) is sliced through, climbed 
over or simply opened up with keys (there are hundreds of gates) on a 
daily basis.
    Tragically, in Arizona alone, wall construction sucked billions of 
gallons out of our borderlands which are already suffering from record 
breaking heat and drought. Wildlife habitat has been severely reduced. 
The culture of binational communities has been ripped apart. The flow 
of river and streams has been altered and when we do get rains, severe 
flooding, jeopardizing life and property, are anticipated. In one 
situation I know about personally, a landowner who stands to suffer 
major flooding damage was told by the wall contractors that the family 
could always file a tort claim against the U.S. government. In other 
words, we--the taxpayers--have spent around $18 billion for a project 
that has destroyed much of what was wonderful about this part of the 
country, and stands to do considerable more damage. And it will 
continue to cost taxpayers. The General Accountability Office estimated 
that operations and maintenance cost for the much wall constructed in 
2018 would run an estimated 15% total costs each year. Costs of 
maintenance of the 2018-2020 wall will inevitably be much, much higher.
    I am now asking you to stop the bleeding and start funding the 
restoration of the borderlands. While some of the damage is 
irreversible, there are sensible mitigation and restoration measures 
that can be put in place in many locations. Given the approximately $18 
billion spent to date on the wall ($2.4 billion in 2008 and roughly $15 
billion during the past four years), the Subcommittee should 
appropriate at least $3 billion dollars to the Department of Homeland 
Security (DHS) as a pass through to the Department of the Interior for 
mitigation and restoration efforts on National Park Service, US Fish 
and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management Land, to the U.S. 
Forest Service for work on national forest land and a small amount to 
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for work at the 
Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve, a wetland of 
international importance. The funding should come with direction to 
engage in a collaborative process with landowners, border communities, 
affected tribal nations and the public regarding what can and should be 
done to mitigate at least some of the damage caused by wall 
construction.
    Further, DHS should be instructed not to use any appropriated funds 
to implement 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1103 note, the ill-advised provision that 
gives the DHS Secretary the authority to waive all laws for 
construction of border wall and associated roads.
    Again, thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony. I 
appreciate the work of the Members of the Subcommittee.

                                   Dinah Bear
                                   Tucson, Arizona
                                 ______
                                 
     Prepared Statement of the Federal Emergency Management Agency
    I've spent my career in first response and disaster management, and 
I am proud to serve on the board of America's Public Television 
Stations because it is clear that their goals completely align with the 
nation's goals, especially when it comes to public safety.
    As the former FEMA Administrator, I witnessed first-hand the many 
challenges facing an efficient and effective post-disaster response. 
Local public television and radio stations have resources and 
capabilities that help address those challenges and improve local, 
state and federal emergency response and homeland security.
    One of the most impressive things about public television's role in 
public safety is that they reach nearly 97% of U.S. households with a 
dedicated broadcast signal. That same broadcast signal has been proven 
to be exceptionally helpful in sharing encrypted data and video with 
first responders on the ground through datacasting.
    This is ground-breaking technology that reaches the country's most 
rural and remote areas and it doesn't require a broadband or LTE 
signal. The majority of the infrastructure needed to provide these 
life-saving enhanced public safety communications services, is already 
in place as part of the public television broadcast infrastructure.
    There is no need to build out a new system to take advantage of 
this technology. And importantly, this technology, known as 
datacasting, is natively one-to-many. This means it is not constrained 
by the typical bandwidth challenges that broadband and LTE networks 
face, even dedicated public safety networks.
    America's public television stations, all 354 of them, stand ready 
to partner with local, state and federal first responders as a 
complement to the communications networks they currently use and those 
they plan to use in the future. Partnering with public television means 
that first responders could off-load some of their heavy bandwidth uses 
like video sharing and other large data files and distribute those 
items through public television's encrypted spectrum, freeing up the 
traditional communications networks for other communications.
    The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology 
Directorate First Responders Group has been very impressed with this 
datacasting technology and has partnered with American's Public 
Television Stations to conduct several pilots throughout the country 
that prove the usefulness of datacasting including in over water 
communications, rural search and rescue, large-event crowd control, 
school safety and others.
    Public television stations are developing critical relationships 
with their state's emergency operations including a partnership with 
the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services to speed the 
delivery of early earthquake warnings, a partnership with the Tennessee 
National Guard to use datacasting in its disaster response and 
mitigation and a partnership with the North Carolina Department of 
Informational Technology (NCDIT)'s First Responder Emerging 
Technologies (FirstTech) program to create a new paging structure that 
improves situational awareness and response time for first responders 
across the state.
    These life-saving services are game changers for public safety and 
they build on public television's long history of alerting their 
communities to disasters and providing critical information to those 
communities post-disaster.
    But all of this work rides on public television's broadcast 
infrastructure, and that infrastructure is increasingly aging and in 
need of reinvestment to secure its reliability and resilience.
    A Corporation for Public Broadcasting study found that the public 
broadcasting system faces $300 million in backlogged infrastructure 
needs in 2020.
    It is critical that Congress help secure the infrastructure of 
these stations that are increasingly playing a vital role in the 
nation's public safety and emergency communications systems.
    I proudly join America's Public Television Stations in calling on 
Congress to create a competitive fund at FEMA, within the Public 
Assistance Program, that would invest in public broadcasting's 
infrastructure to support the current emergency communications work 
being done and allow for the development of expanded emergency 
communications and public safety partnerships.
    Such a fund would be a prudent investment which leverages the 
infrastructure and technology already in place to solve some of the 
nation's most pressing public safety communications challenges.
    The public safety community is hungry for this capacity and 
capability and the nation's local public television stations are 
committed to continuing their public safety mission and stand ready to 
expand their work to offer datacasting in more communities, build more 
public safety partnerships and ultimately save more lives.

    [This statement was submitted by W. Craig Fugate, FEMA 
Administrator.]
                                 ______
                                 
    Prepared Statement of the National Association of State Energy 
                           Officials (NASEO)
    Chairman Murphy and Ranking Member Capito, and members of the 
Subcommittee, I am David Terry, the Executive Director of the National 
Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO). NASEO represents the 
Governor-designated energy directors and their offices in the 56 
states, D.C., and U.S. territories. One of the key functions of the 
state energy offices is Emergency Support Function (``ESF-12'') related 
planning, mitigation, and response actions at the state level, as well 
as coordination with local governments and the energy industry.
    We are in the midst of a severe national crisis. DHS as a whole, 
FEMA specifically, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the states must 
all work together in a coordinated manner. We will (and are) facing 
both expected and unexpected barriers to action. The Subcommittee also 
must take specific action to reverse a terrible decision by DHS and OMB 
at the end of the last Administration. In December 2020, DHS wrote to 
the Speaker with ``poison-pill'' changes to the cyber security title of 
the Energy Act of 2020. The final Energy Act of 2020 (which was 
included in the 5500+ page end-of-year package that was passed and 
signed into law) excluded the cyber security title because of these 
uniformed comments from DHS. As was evidenced by the cyber attack on 
the Colonial Pipeline, we must put in place far more robust cyber 
defenses into our energy systems as well as the rest of the economy. 
Included in that cyber title was expanded state actions for energy-
sector cyber security, expanded public-private partnerships, expanded 
energy emergency preparedness (including ``all-hazards'') and the 
``Pipeline and LNG Facility Cybersecurity Preparedness Act.'' At the 
time, this DHS action made no sense, and sadly, subsequent developments 
such as the Colonial cyber attack, showed the impropriety of the DHS 
objections. The cyber security title of the energy bill would have 
begun to make a huge difference. This is not a partisan issue. Cyber 
security requires extensive agency coordination, including the ESF-12 
function. The state energy offices work closely with our counterparts 
in the state emergency management agencies. We recommend specific bill 
text that provides:

        ``The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security shall 
        coordinate closely with the Secretary of the Department of 
        Energy (DOE), and the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security 
        and Emergency Response at DOE, and shall direct all staff to 
        coordinate closely with the state emergency management offices 
        and the state energy offices to ensure robust cyber security 
        and energy emergency preparedness and response is occurring, 
        including DOE leadership in implementation and preparation for 
        ESF-12 related emergencies. The Secretary shall jointly convene 
        regular meetings with state emergency management officials, 
        state energy officials, and DOE to ensure that coordination and 
        cooperation is occurring. $20 million is specifically allocated 
        for this purposes. The Secretary shall report to the 
        Subcommittee, the House and Senate Homeland Security 
        Committees, the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the 
        Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on progress made, 
        within 90 days of enactment.''

    We recommend that the Subcommittee approve specific funding in the 
following areas in the appropriations bill:

    1) Full funding of the FEMA BRIC program at $3.6 billion. The 
Administration's decision to increase the FY 21 amount to $1 billion is 
a very positive step, but more is needed as is greater attention to 
critical energy actions within this program.

    2) New state emergency planning and response grants of $1 billion, 
with 10% of the funds directed to state energy offices, and the 
remainder targeted to state emergency management agencies including 
coordination between the energy offices, state emergency management 
agencies, FEMA and the DOE Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and 
Emergency Response.

    3) New direct funding to states of $5 billion for public facility 
resilience, energy, and water system retrofits to update mission 
critical facilities, especially including hospitals, schools, community 
shelters, non-profit nursing homes, and first responder facilities, 
utilizing private capital for energy efficiency improvements with 
federal funds directed to emergency response upgrades (this program 
could be operated by state energy offices, who already manage the 
existing $5--$6 billion per year in energy service performance 
contracting programs). In addition, special provision could be made to 
target underserved rural healthcare facilities.

    The program recommended in #3, above, would have the double benefit 
of assisting states in responding to hurricanes, floods, wildfires, 
earthquakes, and other hazards. More energy system resilient facilities 
with access to longer term back-up power, efficient HVAC, lighting, and 
hot water systems offer far greater reliability and durability of 
service for communities.
    NASEO remains concerned that FEMA has not been implementing the 
Disaster Recovery and Reform Act in full compliance with congressional 
direction, intent, and the clear statutory language in the area of pre-
disaster state and local building code training assistance.
    We are encouraged by the FY 22 request to provide increased funding 
for the FEMA BRIC program. Practical, cost-effective building codes, 
voluntarily adopted by state and local governments, require robust 
training of code staff and the building trade community to be 
effective. The evidence that modern building energy codes result in 
more resilient and energy efficient construction and that such codes 
save lives and offer greater comfort to residents during a disaster is 
abundant.
    FEMA had previously chosen to implement DRRA Section 1206 entirely 
through the Public Assistance Program. As a consequence, the draft 
policy would prohibit activities (1) associated with ``non-disaster 
damaged buildings,'' (2) related to ``[a]dopting new or updating 
current building codes or floodplain management ordinances,'' and (3) 
that extend beyond ``180 days after the date of the major disaster 
declaration.''
    Where a community has not adopted disaster resistant codes pre-
disaster, post-disaster is the ideal time for that adoption or update. 
Post-disaster is also when permitting loads and training needs are at 
their greatest. Addressing these challenges through Section 1206 would 
allow FEMA to provide support to jurisdictions seeking to ensure that 
rebuilding is done to modern standards, which in turn can help impacted 
communities be better positioned to weather the next storm. Providing 
federal reimbursement for administering and enforcing older and less 
resilient codes risks perpetuating an unending cycle of damage and 
repair if those older codes are never updated.
    DRRA Section 1206(a) permits FEMA to assist communities in adopting 
or updating building codes post disaster, in training code officials 
and builders on updated or existing building codes, and in boosting 
efforts to ensure rebuilding work community-wide is done to code. We 
believe FEMA should act now to implement that Section, which is 
consistent with the Agency's current Strategic Plan, ongoing 
programmatic work, the National Mitigation Investment Strategy, 
mitigation research, the DRRA, and congressional intent.
    To ensure DRRA section 1206(a) is implemented appropriately in the 
near-term, we request the addition of the following report language in 
your appropriations bill or converted to bill text:

        ``The Committee is concerned that the Agency has implemented 
        Disaster Recovery Reform Act Section 1206 solely through the 
        Public Assistance program. In so doing, the Agency has not 
        implemented Section 1206(a), which permits FEMA to assist 
        communities in adopting or updating building codes post 
        disaster, in training code officials and builders on updated or 
        existing building codes, and in boosting efforts to ensure 
        rebuilding work communitywide is done to code. The Committee 
        urges the Agency to take immediate steps to implement Section 
        1206(a) as required under the law, which will ensure that 
        rebuilding is done to modern standards, helping impacted 
        communities be better positioned to confront future natural 
        hazards.''

    If the Subcommittee has any questions regarding this testimony, 
please contact David Terry, NASEO Executive Director ([email protected]) 
or Jeff Genzer, NASEO Counsel ([email protected]).]

    [This statement was submitted by David Terry, NASEO Executive 
Director.]
                                 ______
                                 
         Prepared Statement of the National Coast Guard Museum
       fifty million dollars for the national coast guard museum
    The Subcommittee is significantly misinformed and disinformed on 
funding for the National Coast Guard Museum.
    Based on letters to the editor of the Day newspaper for many years, 
there is a total lack of private and industry contributions for the 
present plan of locating the Museum in downtown New London; the public 
substantially supports the preferred location at Fort Trumbull.
    Another feasible and prudent alternative is a Virtual Museum over 
the Internet emanating from the Coast Guard Academy. The Smithsonian 
Museum has placed all it exhibits on the Internet, which produces zero 
Greenhouse Gases (``GHG'') unlike constructing a wasteful facility 
where its embodied energy \1\ employs lots of fossil fuels.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Embodied (accumulated) energy is the total quantity of energy 
required to manufacture, and supply to the point of use, a product, 
material or service and disposal. It includes the energy expended from 
cradle to grave for: extracting raw materials; transporting, 
manufacturing, assembling and installing a specific material to produce 
a service or product and finally its disassembly, deconstruction and/or 
decomposition.
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    On the one hand, the Chairman is a strong supporter for reducing 
GHG contributions to climate change but on the other hand, your 
proposed $50 million appropriation for Museum construction embraces and 
guarantees future gas emissions unlike a zero emissions Virtual Museum.
    Any museum, whether for the Coast Guard or otherwise, is neither a 
water-dependent use nor a facility on a site suitable for such use/
facility and will undoubtedly have an adverse impact on future water-
dependent development opportunities and activities.
    ```Water dependent' means development that cannot physically 
function without direct access to the body of water along which it is 
proposed. Uses, or portions of uses, that can function on sites not 
adjacent to the water are not considered water dependent regardless of 
the economic advantages that may be gained from a waterfront 
location.''
    The federally approved Connecticut Coastal Management Act 
(``CCMA'') and Program does not contain either a generic/specific goal 
or policy stating or inferring that a museum'' is a water-dependent 
use.'' More likely, the proposed development is a ``water-enhanced use 
or facility'' based on the legislative debate in 22 House Proceedings 
Part 29, pp. 10285-10297 (Connecticut).
    Lawmakers specifically rejected language that would have allowed 
water-enhanced uses and insisted on the term water-dependent. As the 
lawmakers asserted, what isn't enhanced by being on the water, 
including hotels and restaurants? The aim was to confine coastal 
development to things that can only be done on the waterfront, like 
fishing docks, marinas and ferry terminals, since you can't put those 
anywhere else. Even fish processing plants are not water-dependent 
since they can be built and used anywhere.
    The Commandant of the United States Coast Guard prepared the 
``Funding Plan for the Coast Guard Museum,'' in its Report to Congress 
dated September 11, 2014. The Report was compiled pursuant to a 
requirement in Section 213 of the Coast Guard and Maritime 
Transportation Act of 2004 (Pub. L. 108-293). This plan is now seven 
years old; Congress needs to require its update.
    The funding plan, which is comprised of the 2008 Strategic Master 
Plan and its 2014 addendum, details the public-private partnership 
between the Coast Guard and the National Coast Guard Museum Association 
(``Association'') and addresses the projected resource requirements of 
the Museum based on preliminary designs and plans, which have 
significantly changed.
    The Coast Guard plans to build the Museum on a very difficult 
site--a high hazard flood plain on the wrong side of a high-speed rail 
line.
    As Subcommittee chair, your intent to fund the Museum at the 
downtown New London location is highly unwise and wasteful of energy 
and other natural resources. I suggest and request that the 
Subcommittee reconsider funding construction of the Museum for $50 
million dollars.
    I will gladly provide any further information on the history of 
efforts to create the Museum, which the Coast Guard originally approved 
for Fort Trumbull.

    [This statement was submitted by Robert Fromer.]
                                 ______
                                 
      Prepared Statement of National Congress of American Indians
    On behalf of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), the 
oldest, largest, and most representative national American Indian and 
Alaska Native organization dedicated to protecting the rights of Tribal 
Nations to practice self-determination and achieve self-sufficiency, 
thank you for the opportunity to provide written testimony regarding 
Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 appropriations for tribal homeland security and 
emergency management grants and programs. Foreign and domestic threats 
to homeland security are on the rise. These threats require tribal 
communities to develop and enhance homeland security response planning, 
training, and exercise efforts. However, funding to Tribal Nations for 
critical homeland security needs has remained stagnant for over a 
decade.
    Without adequate resources dedicated to Indian Country, federal 
efforts to create a cohesive and coordinated homeland security strategy 
will leave a significant and potentially dangerous gap in security for 
the entire nation. Congress and the Administration have a trust 
obligation to assist Tribal Nations in protecting all citizens, Native 
and non-Native, within their jurisdictions. Until equitable funding is 
achieved, Tribal Nations will remain unable to fully participate in 
national homeland security strategies, ultimately undermining their 
ability to assist in protecting vital infrastructure from domestic and 
international threats. NCAI urges the Subcommittee to include strong 
funding levels for tribal homeland security and emergency management 
programs in its FY 2022 appropriations bill.
    Increase Funding to $40 Million for the Tribal Homeland Security 
Grant Program: Since 2003, Congress has allocated over $55 billion in 
homeland security grant funds to state and local governments. In 
contrast, Tribal Nations have only been allocated just over $90 million 
during the same period. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has 
acknowledged the need for the Tribal Homeland Security Grant Program 
(THSGP), but has yet to provide the minimum funding for Tribal Nations 
to develop the necessary homeland security capacity to ensure 
protection of the nation.
    Each year, tribal needs are at least four times more than the 
funding amount provided for the program. Of those Tribal Nations that 
do apply, several could use the entire amount budgeted for THSGP on 
their own. Currently, THSGP is the only resource for Tribal Nations to 
develop core capabilities to meet national preparedness goals. The 
cascading effects of DHS not ensuring adherence to statutory 
requirements for states to pass through funding to Tribal Nations along 
with formal denials of, or informal discouragement for seeking, federal 
disaster assistance detrimentally impacts public safety and falls far 
short of the federal government's treaty and trust responsibilities to 
Tribal Nations.
    NCAI strongly urges Congress to fund THSGP at $40 million for the 
next five years. This would represent a necessary increase over the $10 
million that DHS has made available for THSGP in recent years. In FY 
2021, Congress appropriated $15 million for THSGP instead of leaving 
the additional funding up to the discretion of DHS. Congress increasing 
the funding for THSGP is an important step forward for Indian Country. 
NCAI now urges Congress to bring THSGP up to the current Tribal Nations 
request level of $40 million to meet the needs of Tribal Nations as 
they strive to protect all citizens.
    Provide $206,640,000 to enable the 574 Federally Recognized Tribal 
Nations to Develop Vital Homeland Security and Emergency Management 
Programs: Tribal homeland security and emergency management programs 
play a key role in Tribal Nations' ability to respond and recover from 
emergencies such as COVID-19. In order for Tribal Nations to even 
access emergency funding from DHS they need dedicated staff that know 
the emergency funding process and that can work with FEMA. During the 
height of the COVID-19 pandemic over 80 percent of all Tribal Nations 
could not access the billions in life saving funds through FEMA due to 
years of little or no funding for tribal emergency management programs. 
Tribal Nations are continuously being left further and further behind 
in meeting the core capabilities for which the federal government has 
provided funding to state and local governments over the past 50 years. 
If Tribal Nations were to meet minimum standards that have been 
required by the Homeland Security Act and the Robert T. Stafford Act, 
along with the standards developed by FEMA, the National Fire 
Protection Association, and the Emergency Management Accreditation 
Program, a minimum of 1.5 FTEs per Tribal Nation would be required. 
This need could be met by providing each of the 574 federally 
recognized tribal nations with $360,000 annually and would total 
$206,640,000. An investment by the federal government to meet its trust 
responsibilities could provide a return on investment of six dollars 
for every dollar invested.
    Provide $2 Million for the Creation and Operation of a DHS Tribal 
National Advisory Council: Federal advisory committees, often composed 
of non-federal individuals, play an important role in developing public 
policy and government regulations. However, DHS, one of the largest and 
newest federal agencies, does not have a National Tribal Advisory 
Committee to advise the Secretary on all homeland security matters. DHS 
needs this tool to help ensure its programs adequately support the 574 
federally recognized Tribal Nations. Congress created the FEMA National 
Advisory Council (NAC) in the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform 
Act of 2006 to ensure ongoing coordination of federal preparedness, 
response, and recovery efforts. The FEMA NAC advises the FEMA 
Administrator on all aspects of emergency management and currently 
includes two tribal citizens.
    Tribal Nations are thankful that there are at least two tribal 
representatives currently on the FEMA NAC, but are greatly concerned 
that the FEMA NAC cannot consider all pressing tribal homeland security 
matters. For this reason, Congress must organize a DHS Tribal National 
Advisory Council (DHS Tribal NAC) to support homeland security 
initiatives in Indian Country. Additionally, Congress should require an 
annual report from the DHS Tribal NAC on projects, recommendations, 
accomplishments, meetings, membership, and other items. This is 
particularly important as threats evolve and since DHS has not made 
significant steps toward addressing shortfalls in its support for 
tribal homeland security efforts. Congress should provide $2 million 
annually for the staffing, creation, and operation of a DHS Tribal NAC 
that would report directly to the Secretary of Homeland Security.
    Provide $10 Million to Enable Tribal Nations to Work Cooperatively 
with DHS in Developing Tribal Identification Cards: Tribal Nations have 
shown they are willing to comply with the Western Hemisphere Travel 
Initiative for enhanced tribal identification (ID) cards; however, 
compliance is often cost-prohibitive. Funding tribal ID cards has 
multiple benefits, such as enabling Tribal Nations to provide secure 
tribal cards, allowing tribal officials and citizens to continue border 
crossings consistent with longstanding treaty rights and agreements, 
and allowing entrance to federal offices to conduct business and other 
matters. Some Tribal Nations have the human resources and logistical 
capacity to produce tribal IDs if materials and technical assistance 
are available. NCAI asks Congress to provide $10 million to Customs and 
Border Protection for direct assistance to the 574 federally recognized 
Tribal Nations for enhanced ID efforts.
    Provide $4 Million for Tribal Emergency Management Assistance 
Compact Development: Congress funded the development and continues to 
fund the operation of the state-to-state emergency management 
assistance compact (EMAC)--a mutual aid agreement between states and 
territories of the United States. The EMAC enables states to share 
resources during natural and man-made disasters, including terrorism. 
The 574 federally recognized Tribal Nations are not part of this 
agreement. This is an issue, as Tribal Nations are often the first, and 
in some cases only, responders to natural disasters in their 
jurisdictions. The majority of tribal disasters are never designated 
federal disaster declaration status. For this reason, providing funding 
to establish and operate tribal EMACs will help strengthen national 
homeland security by providing Tribal Nations a first resource between 
and among themselves. NCAI urges Congress to provide $4 million for 
inter-tribal emergency management compact development.
    Additional Indian Country funding priorities for FY 2022:

  --Provide $10 million for Tribal Nations to train DHS personnel in 
        cultural sensitivity. (DHS)

  --Provide $2 million for Tribal Homeland Security Centers of 
        Excellence. (DHS)

  --Provide $5 million for Tribal Cyber Security Resilience. (CISA)

  --Provide $2 million for COVID-19 after action evaluations and 
        reports that focus on the federal response in Indian Country. 
        (FEMA)

  --Provide $2 million for National Response and Coordinating Center, 
        Tribal Desk. (FEMA)

  --Provide $1 million for updated Tribal Nations emergency management 
        training. (FEMA)

  --Provide $3 million for the development and delivery of homeland 
        security and emergency management curriculum at Tribal Colleges 
        and Universities and tribal non-profits. (FEMA)

    Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony and for your 
consideration of tribal homeland security and emergency management 
funding priorities for FY 2022.

    [This statement was submitted by Kelbie Kennedy 
([email protected]), NCAI Policy Counsel.]
                                 ______
                                 
         Prepared Statement of The Nature Conservancy's (TNC's)
    Chair Murphy, Ranking Member Capito and members of the 
Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to present The Nature 
Conservancy's (TNC's) support for fiscal year 2022 (FY22) funding for 
specific programs of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). 
TNC is a nonprofit conservation organization working in all 50 states 
and in 72 countries and territories to conserve the lands and waters on 
which all life depends.
    Last year, we witnessed an alarming new record in the United States 
as an unparalleled number of catastrophic storms resulted in the 
greatest number of billion-dollar disasters since the National Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Administration began tallying disaster costs. A record-
breaking 30 named tropical storms and hurricanes played a major role in 
this sad milestone, as did the worst year on record for 
uncharacteristically severe wildfires in the West. Since just 2005, the 
United States has endured just shy of $1.26 trillion in damages from 
natural disasters, which represents an alarming and dramatic average 
annual increase in previous years and decades \1\. These statistics 
represent a trend moving in the wrong direction as we continue to 
witness increasingly devastating storms and wildfires wreaking havoc on 
our lives, our economy and our environment.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ U.S.: economic cost of natural disasters 2020 Statista
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    As a nation, we must improve our ability to invest in work that 
reduces the risk of the growing impacts of these disasters. We must 
also pay attention to an equitable distribution of federal funding to 
ensure low-income communities and communities of color are able to 
access these resources. Unfortunately, FEMA mitigation funding has not 
targeted these communities, which already have added challenges in 
accessing sources of mitigation funding. According to E&E reported 
analysis \2\ of FEMA records on the applications for the new Building 
Resilient Infrastructure for Communities (BRIC) program, only 10 
percent of the applications were from ``small, impoverished 
communities'' and this amounted to only 3 percent of the funding being 
sought.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ Environmental Justice: FEMA climate grants pose challenge for 
poor communities--Tuesday, June 1, 2021--www.eenews.net
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Overall, there is more that we can do to prepare for and invest in 
reducing the risk that disaster events pose to communities, especially 
low-income and communities of color. By investing in actions that 
enhance resilience and deliver measurable reduction in risk and 
impacts, our nation will experience less loss of life and property. 
Communities throughout the nation will be able to bounce back quicker 
from these extreme weather events. Due to this need, TNC strongly 
supports efforts to build staff capacity and expertise as well as 
bolster technical assistance--including investing in data delivery and 
geospatial mapping--and pre-disaster mitigation planning, analysis and 
overall mitigation actions.
    TNC believes planning for and investing in restoring and conserving 
nature provides significant contributions to mitigation actions. These 
types of natural and green infrastructure projects deliver measurable 
reductions in flood, fire and drought risk. These risk reduction 
benefits are being realized through conservation and restoration 
projects across the United States and in U.S. territories to maintain 
and restore the connectivity of rivers and provide sufficient 
floodplain areas. These projects can include protecting headwaters of 
watersheds to improve the quality of downstream waters, implementing 
sustainable forest management practices, restoring coastal natural 
infrastructure like coral reefs and dunes, and constructing green 
infrastructure in urban areas. In addition to reducing risks, these 
projects provide many other benefits that enhance resilience and 
support and protect humans and nature, such as filtering pollutants, 
reducing erosion, protecting breeding grounds for fish and shellfish 
and enhancing recreation. To further advance this work, working with 
the global infrastructure consulting firm AECOM, we recently completed 
a guide, ``Promoting Nature-Based Mitigation Through FEMA Mitigation 
Grants'' (www.nature.org/femaguide), to inform local communities and 
states as to how to successfully secure FEMA mitigation funding to 
invest in nature-based projects.
             flood hazard mapping and risk analysis program
    Flood maps are critical to providing accurate information that 
feeds into essential community-level vulnerability assessment and risk 
reduction planning, yielding enhanced resilience. Up-to-date, 
scientifically sound and environmentally and socio-economically 
indicative flood maps inform risk and vulnerability. Flood maps 
underpin wise land use, including decisions on where not to develop and 
where to conserve lands that might aid in reducing flood risk. And yet, 
FEMA maps are woefully inadequate in capturing flood risk. A study 
published in Environmental Research Letters by TNC and other scientists 
demonstrated that approximately 13 percent of the U.S. population is at 
risk of flooding. This is more than three times what is captured by 
FEMA flood insurance rate maps, which are used to estimate the amount 
of the U.S. population at risk. The study used new mapping techniques 
that should be considered to bolster FEMA's current mapping methods. 
TNC also has extensive experience in providing flood and land use data 
to inform strategies that reduce risk through the development of our 
Coastal Resilience Tool.
    According to a panel of experts convened by the Association of 
State Floodplain Managers, it will cost between $3.2 billion and $11.8 
billion to produce updated flood maps for the nation and another $107 
million to $480 million annually to keep those maps updated.\3\ The 
funding level of $263 million for FY20 and FY21 for the Flood Hazard 
Mapping and Risk Analysis Program is simply inadequate to update and 
maintain FEMA flood maps. At a time when needs for accurate mapping are 
so great because it can help drive risk reduction decisions, we ask 
that this amount be greatly increased to address the need. We 
appreciate the requested additional funding of $273 million in the 
president's budget but, unfortunately, this amount is not enough to 
address the need. TNC requests funding of up to $800 million for the 
Flood Hazard Mapping and Risk Analysis Program in FY22. This amount 
should be in addition to any amounts allocated to mapping from revenues 
derived directly from the flood insurance policy fee.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ ASFPM's Flood Mapping for the Nation. 2020. https://
www.floodsciencecenter.org/products/flood-mapping-for-the-nation/
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        building resilient infrastructure and communities (bric)
    Proactive actions before any specific disaster hits promotes and 
facilitates planning and measures that increase resilience and reduce 
risk, compared with the reactive, immediate actions needed following a 
disaster. With nearly all federal investments in mitigation occurring 
after a disaster, the importance of pre-disaster mitigation is 
essential. Through the passage of the Disaster Recovery Reform Act 
(DRRA) in 2018, Congress created a new program intended to replace the 
annually appropriated Pre-Disaster Mitigation Fund. Launched this year, 
BRIC is to be funded with up to 6 percent set aside from the Disaster 
Relief Fund (DRF). This will enhance funding for pre-disaster 
mitigation work and could result in a meaningful increase in funding 
for pre-disaster mitigation investment. While we appreciate the $500 
million that was dedicated to this program in FY21, reporting indicates 
that this amount did not represent a full 6 percent allocations as 
defined in the statute, and it continues to be uncertain exactly how 
the percentage of DRF funds to dedicate to BRIC will be calculated and 
invested in BRIC in FY22 and beyond. And as demonstrated in the first 
round of applications for this funding, the demand for funding totaled 
$3.6 billion far exceeded the available funding. We also greatly 
appreciate the president's recent announcement of dedicating $1 billion 
in funding to this program for FY22. We also call on Congress to 
include report language that ensures funding of at least the full 6 
percent (as defined in the DRRA of 2018) of DRF funds for BRIC for 
FY22. Additionally, we strongly encourage the Committee to request that 
15 percent of future rounds of BRIC funding be reserved to fund nature-
based mitigation projects, which have been proven to provide 
significant hazard risk reduction benefits during natural disaster 
events while also providing additional social, recreational and 
environmental co-benefits year-round.
           national flood insurance program mitigation grants
    Much of the National Flood Insurance Program Mitigation Grant funds 
are targeted at mitigating losses to structures that repeatedly flood. 
Addressing the select structures that incur the greatest cost from 
repeated damage is the fiscally responsible option. There are known 
strategies, both structural and nonstructural, that are proven to 
reduce or eliminate flood damage, and thus this funding ultimately 
saves costs by reducing or eliminating that future risk. The funds pay 
for flood proofing measures, such as elevating structures, and are used 
to permanently remove structures from areas of repeat flooding. TNC 
supports a minimum funding level of $175 million in FY22 for the 
National Flood Insurance Program Mitigation Grants.
    Thank you for the opportunity to submit TNC's recommendations for 
the FY22 Homeland Security appropriations bill.

    [This statement was submitted by Sarah Murdock, Director, U.S. 
Climate Resilience and Water Policy, The Nature Conservancy.]
                                 ______
                                 
     Prepared Statement of the Nation's Fire and Emergency Services
 department of homeland security, federal emergency management agency 
       (fema) programs--firefighter assistance grants, u.s. fire 
             administration, urban search and rescue system
    On behalf of the nation's fire and emergency services, we write to 
urge your continued support for programs that enhance our nation's 
readiness and emergency response capabilities: the Assistance to 
Firefighters (AFG) and the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency 
Response (SAFER) grant programs, the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), 
and the Urban Search and Rescue Response System (US&R).
                      afg and safer grant programs
Funding

    The AFG and SAFER grant programs are imperative to addressing the 
needs of more than one million fire and emergency services personnel 
while providing an economic stimulus to American businesses. AFG and 
SAFER have been eminently successful in providing fire departments and 
EMS agencies with the tools, training, and staffing needed to safely 
and effectively protect their communities. As you begin work on the 
Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 appropriations process, we encourage you to fund 
these programs at the authorized level of $750 million each.
    Demand for these programs has consistently been significantly 
higher than the supply of available funding, and equipment costs have 
continued to rise while funding has remained relatively low. The most 
recent analysis from industry experts estimates that since 2018, the 
average cost for turnout gear has increased around 14%, while the cost 
of fire apparatus has increased around 16%. Even today, costs are still 
continuing to increase.
    In addition to costs, demand for fire and emergency services 
response has also continued to grow. According to NFPA data, in 2011, 
fire departments responded to just over 30 million calls in that year. 
By 2018, the annual number of calls had risen to approximately 36.7 
million, a 22% increase. Furthermore, not only did the overall number 
of calls increase, but the number of calls across most response 
categories increased. In 2018, fire departments responded to more calls 
for medical aid, mutual aid, hazardous materials response, and other 
conditions than before. During the COVID-19 pandemic, fire departments 
and EMS agencies have shown that they are ready, willing, and able to 
respond to new and evolving emergencies-while continuing to respond to 
existing threats-but they require federal support to do so.
    The AFG and SAFER grant programs improve response capabilities 
across all emergency response areas. They also provide funding for 
crucial fire prevention and safety programs targeted toward high-risk 
populations. As demand for fire and emergency response continues to 
rise, we must ensure that our fire and EMS personnel have what they 
need to keep themselves and their communities safe while also 
strengthening prevention efforts to improve the safety of civilians and 
personnel alike. This requirement is squarely in the federal interest 
and necessitates federal investments at the authorized level.

Waiver Language

    The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new challenges to fire 
departments and EMS agencies. To ensure that the AFG and SAFER programs 
can continue to function effectively in these conditions, we ask that 
you include the following waiver language in the FY2022 DHS 
appropriations bill:
                                 safer
    In making grants to carry out Section 34 of the Federal Fire 
Prevention and Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2229a), the Administrator 
shall grant waivers from the requirements in subsections (a)(1)(A), 
(a)(1)(B), (a)(1)(E), (c)(1), (c)(2), and (c)(4) of such Act.
                                  afg
    In making grants to carry out Section 33 of the Federal Fire 
Prevention and Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2229), the Administrator 
shall grant waivers from the requirements in subsections (k)(1) and 
(k)(3) of such Act.

    These waivers will help ensure that vital grant funding gets where 
it is most needed: into the hands of local fire departments and EMS 
agencies. The SAFER waivers will also allow departments to retain and 
rehire personnel-critical to attaining and maintaining the appropriate 
staffing levels to keep communities safe.
                        u.s. fire administration
    Another issue we bring to your attention is funding for USFA. USFA 
plays an important role at the national level, ensuring that the fire 
service is prepared to respond to all hazards. Each year, USFA provides 
training to approximately 100,000 fire and emergency service personnel 
through the National Fire Academy (NFA). Through the vital funding of 
the State Fire Training Grants, USFA is also able to support much-
needed training in the states, and thus reach a larger audience. 
Additionally, USFA collects important data and conducts research to 
reduce the threat of fire and other dangers in local communities. 
Unfortunately, over the past decade, USFA's budget has remained 
relatively stagnant and well below the authorized level of $76.5 
million.
    At a time when fire and EMS personnel are facing climate change 
threats, including increasing numbers of natural disasters like 
hurricanes, tornadoes, and wildfires; more medical calls than ever 
before; the evolving challenge of responding on the front lines of a 
global pandemic; the continued scourge of structural fires, including 
home fires; increasing numbers of calls for hazardous materials 
response; and much more, it is essential that the agency tasked with 
supporting America's fire and emergency services is properly resourced.
    Therefore, our organizations request full funding of $76.5 million 
for USFA in FY2022 to ensure that it can continue its mission to 
support our nation's fire and EMS personnel and work for a fire-safe 
America.
                urban search and rescue response system
    Lastly, we request your support for US&R funding. As the nation's 
only self-sufficient, all-hazards, ready-response force, US&R is 
essential to our nation's homeland security. Given its crucial 
importance, we are extremely concerned with the program's consistent 
underfunding. The average cost to maintain a US&R team exceeds $2 
million. Unfortunately, recent appropriations have only covered a 
portion of the necessary costs, leaving local governments responsible 
for filling the gap and, thus, impairing local public safety. We urge 
Congress to increase funding for the program to at least $50 million in 
FY2022.
    We remain grateful for your continued leadership in ensuring that 
America's fire and emergency services are prepared to protect the 
public from all hazards--both natural and manmade. As you continue 
developing legislation to fund these programs for FY2022, we urge you 
to consider our recommendations to ensure that our nation's first 
responders can continue to protect and serve their communities safely 
and effectively.

    Sincerely,

Congressional Fire Services Institute
Fire Apparatus Manufacturers' Association
Fire and Emergency Manufacturers and Services Association
International Association of Arson Investigators
International Association of Fire Chiefs
International Association of Fire Fighters
International Fire Service Training Association
International Society of Fire Service Instructors
National Association of State Fire Marshals
National Fire Protection Association
National Volunteer Fire Council
North American Fire Training Directors
Congressional Fire Services Institute/Fire Apparatus Manufacturers' 
Association
Fire and Emergency Manufacturers and Services Association/
International Association of Arson Investigators/International 
Association of Fire Chiefs/
International Association of Fire Fighters/International Fire Service 
Training Association/
International Society of Fire Service Instructors/National Association 
of State Fire Marshals/
National Fire Protection Association/National Volunteer Fire Council/
North American Fire Training Directors

    [This statement was submitted by Michaela Campbell, Director of 
Government Affairs for the Congressional Fire Services Institute, on 
behalf of the undersigned organizations.]
                                 ______
                                 
 Prepared Statement of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)
    The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is a self-funded, 
global non-profit organization founded in 1896 dedicated to ending 
losses from fire, electrical, and related life safety hazards. With the 
unabating wildfire crisis in the U.S., NFPA recently launched Outthink 
Wildfire(tm), an initiative to advocate for policy change in five key 
areas that will stop the destruction of communities by this hazard. We 
write to ask for your support for key federal programs.
    The five tenets are: 1) all homes and business in areas of wildfire 
risk must be retrofitted to resist ignition; 2) current codes, 
standards, and sound land use planning practices must be used and 
enforced; 3) local fire departments must have adequate resources to 
protect their communities; 4) fuel management on federal and non-
federal lands must be a priority; and 5) the public must be well-
informed and motivated to embrace their role in reducing wildfire risk. 
While action on these fronts is urgently needed at all levels of 
government, Federal programs need to play a key role in ending the 
devastating wildfire losses communities are now experiencing as 
discussed in this letter.
                      mitigating wildfire severity
    NFPA supports the Administration's FY2022 proposal to provide $1.7 
billion in funding for high-priority hazardous fuels and forest-
resilience projects to the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), in addition to 
the proposed $340 million to the Department of the Interior (DOI) for 
hazardous fuel treatments on its lands. As identified in the National 
Cohesive Wildfire Management Strategy, denser, more continuous fuel on 
landscapes now outside of their natural ecological fire regimes is a 
major contributor to the severe wildfires that threaten communities and 
drain Federal fire suppression resources. The U.S. must increase the 
rate of fuel treatments, including prescribed burning, to address the 
millions of acres now at high or very high risk of wildfire.
    In addition to increased resources for hazardous fuel treatment 
projects, NFPA supports programs that enable collaboration between the 
USFS and its partners, assist state and private land managers in 
restoring forest health, and encourage landscape-scale restoration 
projects. For example, the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration 
program has been successful in reducing fire risk and achieving other 
management objectives through a stakeholder-driven process aimed at 
minimizing conflict.\1\ Given the National Cohesive Strategy's call for 
increased landscape-scale fuel treatment and forest health projects, 
funding this program at its authorized level of $80 million can help 
continue and expand on its success. Similarly, the Landscape Scale 
Restoration Program should receive $20 million.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ See e.g., Schultz, Courtney, et al. (2017) Strategies for 
Success Under Forest Service Restoration Initiatives, Ecosystem 
Workforce Working Paper, Number 81 (https://tinyurl.com/38b3cpz4)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Finally, NFPA supports a robust budget for forestry research, 
including programs to better understand wildfire behavior and landscape 
treatment strategies, as well as programs to develop new wood products 
and markets to create more financial incentives for hazardous fuel 
treatment. As part of that funding, the Joint Fire Sciences Research 
program should receive $8 million each for the USFS and DOI. NFPA also 
believes research funding for the built environment aspect of wildfire 
resilience should be increased and thus supports the Administration's 
proposal to increase funding for the National Institute of Standards 
and Technology (NIST), particularly for efforts to improve resiliency 
through building codes.
                assisting state & local fire departments
    State and local fire response resources play a major role in 
preparing for and responding to wildfires on both public and private 
lands, making the USFS funds provided by the State Fire Assistance 
(SFA) and Volunteer Fire Assistance (VFA) programs critical to public 
safety. According to the National Association of State Foresters, 
members of state and local fire departments are the first to respond to 
80 percent of wildfires. Findings from NFPA's 2016 Fourth Needs 
Assessment of the U.S. Fire Service \2\ that the majority of fire 
departments with wildfire response responsibilities lack sufficient 
training and personal protective equipment reveal a significant gap in 
safety, for both the responders and the lives and properties of the 
communities they protect.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ National Fire Protection Association (2016) Fourth National 
Needs Assessment, https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Data-research-
and-tools/Emergency-Responders/Needs-assessment, (Eighty-eight percent 
of U.S. fire departments-some 23,000 departments-provide wildland and/
or WUI firefighting services, but 63 percent of those have not formally 
trained all of their personnel involved in wildland firefighting on 
these skills. Only 32 percent have all of their responders equipped 
with appropriate personal protection equipment (PPE), and 26 percent do 
not have any of the necessary PPE at all. Only 27 percent of 
departments have a health and fitness program).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    SFA and VFA are critical safety programs for supporting wildland 
urban interface (WUI) communities, funding hazardous fuels treatment in 
the WUI, supporting fire planning projects, and helping to train and 
equip state and local responders. SFA also supports public education 
and community capacity development programs like Firewise USA(r) and 
the Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network. These programs teach WUI 
residents how to lower wildfire risk to their homes and support 
community mitigation activities. Therefore, NFPA supports funding the 
State Fire Assistance program at $88.5 million and the Volunteer Fire 
Assistance program at $20 million.
                       mitigation for communities
    The National Cohesive Strategy also identifies the need for fire 
adapted communities-communities where homes and businesses are 
retrofitted to resist ignition and wildfire safety codes, standards, 
and land use planning practices are applied. According to the U.S. Fire 
Administration, the Nation has over 70,000 thousand communities in 
areas at risk from wildfires, home to 46 million housing units. 
Preparing for wildfire through creating defensible space and home 
retrofits can greatly reduce the risk of loss. NFPA supports the 
Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Building Resilient 
Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program and the Administration's 
proposal to add $540 million in new resources to programs tasked with 
helping communities undertake pre-disaster planning and make 
investments in resiliency. The USFS' Wildfire Hazard Severity Mapping 
for Communities program also supports community risk assessment and 
hazard mitigation planning and should continue. In addition, NFPA is 
also highly supportive of proposed efforts to improve resiliency and 
safety in HUD-assisted housing with an additional $800 million in new 
investments.
    Thank you for the opportunity to share our views on Federal support 
for reducing wildfire risk to communities. NFPA strongly urges the 
Committee to support a robust budget for wildfire mitigation and we 
stand ready to provide any addition information that would be useful.

                                   Sincerely,

                                           L. Seth Statler
                                           Director of Government 
                                               Affairs,
                                           National Fire Protection 
                                               Association
                                 ______
                                 
     Prepared Statement of National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU)
    Chairman Murphy, Ranking Member Capito and distinguished members of 
the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to provide this 
testimony. As President of the National Treasury Employees Union 
(NTEU), I have the honor of leading a union that represents over 29,000 
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Officers and trade enforcement 
specialists stationed at 328 air, sea, and land ports of entry across 
the United States and 16 Preclearance stations.
    CBP is the largest component of the Department of Homeland Security 
(DHS) responsible for border security at the ports of entry, including 
anti-terrorism, immigration, anti-smuggling, trade compliance, and 
agriculture protection. CBP also simultaneously facilitates lawful 
trade and travel at U.S. ports of entry that is critical to our 
Nation's economy.
    CBP Staffing at the Ports of Entry: For years, NTEU has advocated 
for the hiring of thousands of new CBP Officers, hundreds of new 
Agriculture Specialists and non-uniformed trade operations personnel 
that are needed based on the agency's own Workload Staffing Model 
(WSM), Agriculture Resource Allocation Model (AgRAM) and Resource 
Optimization Model for Trade Revenue (Trade ROM).
    Pursuant to these models, in FY 2021 House Appropriators sought 
$171 million for 1,150 new CBP OFO positions including $91 million for 
850 CBP Officers, $10 million for 100 support personnel and$30 million 
for 200 agriculture specialists. Senate Appropriators did not clear any 
funding bills but recommended $8 million in FY 2021 funding to hire 50 
new non-uniformed trade positions to carry out CBP's trade mission to 
strengthen trade enforcement actions. However, in the end, the final FY 
2021 funding bill did not include any funding to increase staffing for 
CBP OFO.
    CBP's staffing models are dynamic and reflect the impact of the 
pandemic on CBP OFO staffing needs. Based on CBP's most recent staffing 
models, CBP needs to hire approximately 1,700 CBP Officers, 400 
Agriculture Specialists and 200 non-uniformed Trade Specialists.
    NTEU requests that the Committee include in its FY 2022 DHS 
appropriations bill funding for CBP OFO new hires up to levels required 
by the CBP's dynamic workplace staffing models for CBP Officers, 
Agriculture Specialists and Trade Specialists. Therefore, NTEU is 
asking the Committee to provide at minimum $160 million in direct 
appropriated funding for CBP ``Operations and Support'' in FY 2022 to 
fund the hiring of at least 800 CBP Officers, 240 CBP Agriculture 
Specialists, 200 CBP Agriculture Technicians, 20 Agriculture Canine 
Teams and 50 non-uniformed trade enforcement specialists and associated 
operational support personnel.
    To further support this staffing request, NTEU joined a coalition 
of 28 port stakeholders, including Airports Council International-North 
America, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the U.S. Travel Association on a 
letter dated May 4, 2021, to this subcommittee urging funding for new 
officers so the agency will be prepared for an influx of passengers and 
cargo at the ports-of-entry once the current international travel 
restrictions are relaxed and eventually lifted.
    As the letter states, ensuring CBP staffing is an economic driver 
for the U.S. economy and an additional 800 CBP Officers would not only 
reduce wait times at ports of entry, but also provide new economic 
opportunities across the United States. ``While the volume of commerce 
crossing our borders has more than tripled in the past 25 years, CBP 
staffing has not kept pace with demand'' the coalition wrote. ``Long 
wait times at our ports-of-entry lead to travel delays and uncertainty, 
which can increase supply-chain costs and cause passengers to miss 
their connections. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, border 
delays result in losses to output, wages, jobs, and tax revenue due to 
decreases in spending by companies, suppliers, and consumers.''
    Furthermore, acknowledging the ongoing CBP Officer staffing 
shortage at the ports, CBP again finds it necessary to solicit CBP 
Officers for temporary duty assignment (TDY) to San Ysidro, Otay Mesa, 
and Calexico land ports of entry, which began on May 16, 2021. 
According to CBP, the TDY is necessary to support the workload and 
operational challenges facing the San Diego Field Office, such as wait 
times in excess of four hours. OFO anticipates the TDY to run in three, 
62-day phases and tentatively ending on July 18, 2021, with the 
possibility of additional phases. These TDYs will be filled by CBP 
Officers currently assigned to air and seaport locations and will 
generally exclude northern and southern land border POEs.
    Lastly, in order to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, since March 
2020, travel through the northern and southwest border land ports has 
been restricted to essential trade and travel. These restrictions are 
reevaluated monthly and there is an expectation that these essential 
travel restrictions may be lifted as early as June 21. If these 
essential travel restrictions are indeed lifted, I have heard from NTEU 
leaders that the current staffing at land ports will be unable to 
maintain inspection and processing functions to address the expected 
increase in traffic flow in a timely manner. At the San Ysidro port of 
entry, the current TDYs will need to be extended or wait times at that 
port will become untenable. With the end of essential travel 
restrictions, the surge of travelers, as well as asylum seekers, 
through the land ports threaten to overwhelm port functions. To end the 
need for TDYs, it is up to Congress to address the ongoing port 
staffing deficit by authorizing and funding CBP OFO new hires in FY 
2022 and subsequent years until the staffing gap identified in the 
workload staffing models are met. Without addressing the ongoing CBP 
Officer staffing shortages, allocating adequate staffing at all ports 
will remain a challenge.
    Unfortunately, the FY 2022 President's DHS budget request is 
essentially flat and includes no increase in funding for CBP OFO new 
hires. NTEU greatly appreciates the President for including a pay raise 
for federal employees in his budget proposal and new CBP funding to 
address the annualization of the FY 2021 pay raise, the FY 2022 pay 
raise, the associated FERS contribution and funding for certain port 
modernization projects.
    CBP Agriculture Specialist Staffing: Currently, there is a shortage 
of approximately 430 Agriculture Specialists nationwide according to 
CBP's own data-driven and vetted Workload Staffing Model. Last year, 
Congress approved P.L. 116-122, the Protecting America's Food and 
Agriculture Act of 2019. The new law authorizes CBP to hire 240 CBP 
Agriculture Specialists, 200 CBP Agriculture Technicians and 20 
Agriculture Canine Teams per year until the staffing shortage that 
threatens the U.S. agriculture sector is met. NTEU's appropriations 
request includes funding to hire the first wave of CBP agriculture 
inspection personnel authorized by the newly enacted statute.
    CBP Trade Operations Staffing: In addition to safeguarding our 
nation's borders and ports, CBP is tasked with regulating and 
facilitating international trade. CBP employees at the ports of entry 
are critical for protecting our nation's economic growth and security 
and are the second largest source of revenue collection for the U.S. 
government--$74 billion in 2020. For every dollar invested in CBP trade 
personnel, $87 is returned to the U.S. economy, either through lowering 
the costs of trade, ensuring a level playing field for domestic 
industry or protecting innovative intellectual property. Since CBP was 
established in March 2003, however, there has been no increase in non-
uniformed CBP trade enforcement and compliance personnel. Additionally, 
CBP trade operations staffing has fallen below the statutory floor set 
forth in the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and stipulated in the FY 
2019 CBP Trade ROM. To maintain CBP's trade enforcement mission, NTEU 
requests that Congress provide funding in FY 2022 for 50 additional CBP 
non-uniformed trade personnel.
    User Fee Shortfalls: Due to the pandemic's continued disruption of 
fee generating international travel and commerce, user fee collections 
have fallen precipitously which has necessitated the need for emergency 
funding to prevent furloughing CBP OFO personnel at a time when 
international trade and travel volume is beginning to return to pre-
pandemic levels. Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) 
and Immigration and Agriculture Quality Inspection (AQI) user fees 
currently fund up to 8,000 CBP Officers and 2,400 Agriculture 
Specialists. To address the user fee shortfall, we were pleased that 
Congress provided $840 million in FY 2021 emergency appropriations to 
maintain current staffing of CBP Officers. Projected CBP trade and 
travel volume data shows an estimated user fee shortfall of up to $1.4 
billion through the first quarter of FY 2022. Congress also provided up 
to $635 million through the end of FY 2022 in supplemental funding to 
USDA to cover the user funding shortfall that funds CBP Agriculture 
Specialists staffing.
    U.S. businesses rely on the safe and efficient movement of goods 
and people across our borders and are all working to safely resume 
international travel and travel. Keeping current CBP Officer staffing 
levels will be necessary to successfully transition into a more robust, 
safe, and delay-free travel environment and improve cargo movement. 
Losing the hiring and staffing advances that they finally started to 
gain after years of effort and much appreciated funding support by 
Congress will negatively impact cross-border travel, passenger 
processing and trade facilitation in future years as the economy 
returns to normal.
    The critical issues that American businesses are facing to recover 
from this pandemic require quick, decisive action so that our 
government can best facilitate the flow of travel and trade as the 
economy recovers. Without Congress again providing supplemental funding 
or reprogramming existing funds to support these CBP Officers between 
now and the end of FY 2022, we are gravely concerned that this loss of 
user fee funding will result in furloughs at a time when this workforce 
is most needed to facilitate the flow of legitimate travel and trade as 
the economy recovers.
    NTEU requests that the Committee, either through reprogramming, a 
supplemental funding bill, or in its FY 2022 DHS appropriations bill, 
funding to replace user fee shortfalls for CBP OFO salaries and 
expenses and to mitigate dependence on user fees to fund salaries and 
expenses of CBP OFO personnel. This CBP OFO funding request will help 
to ensure that current CBP Officer staffing levels are maintained as 
trade and traffic volumes increase. NTEU implores you to provide this 
funding now so that CBP Officers can stay on the job during the 
economic recovery. CBP employees at the ports of entry already face 
many challenges in the course of their work and concerns about their 
health and safety or of being furloughed as the country reopens for 
business should not be among them.
    NTEU also strongly opposes any diversion of COBRA user fees. Any 
increases to the user fee account should be properly used for much-
needed CBP staffing and not diverted to unrelated projects. In 2015, 
the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act indexed COBRA 
user fees to inflation. However, the Act diverted this increase in the 
user fee from CBP to pay for unrelated infrastructure projects. 
Indexing the COBRA user fee to inflation is projected to raise $1.4 
billion over ten years-a potential $140 million per year funding stream 
to help pay for the hiring of additional CBP Officers to perform CBP's 
border security, law enforcement and trade and travel facilitation 
missions. Diverting these funds has cost CBP funding to hire over 900 
new CBP Officers per year since the FAST Act went into effect. These 
new hires would have significantly alleviated the current CBP Officer 
staffing shortage.
    Thank you for the opportunity to submit this FY 2022 appropriations 
request for CBP Officer, Agriculture Specialist, Technicians, Canine 
teams, Trade Operations, and mission support new hires at the ports of 
entry to build on the CBP OFO staffing advances enacted in prior 
appropriations bills. NTEU greatly appreciates your efforts to continue 
building on CBP OFO staffing advances made in recent years, and we urge 
you to provide FY 2022 funding to replace any user fee shortfall to 
maintain the current number of CBP employees and to hire needed 
additional CBP OFO employees to adequately staff the nation's ports of 
entry as our economy rebounds from the pandemic.

    [This statement was submitted by Anthony M. Reardon, National 
President, National Treasury Employees Union.]
                                 ______
                                 
        Prepared Statement of Science and Technology Directorate
    To: Senate Staff for Senator Peters, Congressional Staff for 
Congressmen Johnson, Ryan, Joyce, Axne, and DesJarlis.
    My office, the Office of Engagement and Partnerships in the 
Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate, 
works to identify existing technologies that can be quickly utilized by 
members of the Department to fulfill their missions to protect our 
country. In the course of evaluating these technologies, we were 
briefed by a company that can protect our law enforcement officers and 
first responders against the danger posed by the aerosolization of 
dangerous substances such as opioids.
    This device is called BLOC(tm); a handheld device enabling an 
individual to immediately encapsulate potentially lethal powders such 
as fentanyl and anthrax. It is the only patented technology of its 
kind, currently deployed in the field, and is coincidentally 
manufactured in Ohio and Michigan.
    The COVID-19 Pandemic has resulted in increased synthetic opioid 
use, overdoses, and exposures. Because this technology was specifically 
designed to neutralize the threat of aerosolization of lethal powders, 
it offers a viable solution which can also be applied to other drugs 
and residues of homeless populations.
    As opioid abuse and homelessness increase, law enforcement agencies 
are transitioning to de-escalation techniques utilizing social service 
personnel. These personnel enter locations with substantial threats of 
exposure to synthetic opioids, fecal matter containing COVID-19 and 
unknown powders. This device protects them from exposure, as well as 
innocent people and those suffering from Opioid Use Disorders.
    Based on the information provided, BLOC(tm) has been field-proven 
effective by first responders, law enforcement, corrections, and US 
Military Citizen Support Teams (94th CST). The efficacy of BLOC(tm) was 
confirmed by EAG Laboratories, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal 
Investigations and recently by the United States Department of 
Agriculture, who stated, ``It has far reaching capabilities to include 
neutralizing weaponized powders such as Anthrax''.
    This office facilitated presentations of this device to the U.S. 
Coast Guard, US Customs and Border Patrol, and the Office of Countering 
Weapons of Mass Destruction who recognized the benefits of BLOC(tm) to 
personnel engaged in drug interdiction and national security.
    The ability of this new technology to immediately contain lethal 
compounds provides a viable solution to the threat of exposures 
identified in the Synthetic Opioid Exposure Prevention and Training 
Act. As your office continues to safeguard the personnel at risk from 
synthetic opioid exposure, I wanted to inform you of this new 
technology for your consideration.
Respectfully,

    [This statement was submitted by Robert B. Newman, Jr., Director, 
Office of Engagements and Partnerships, Department of Homeland 
Security, Science and Technology Directorate.]