[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 86 (Friday, June 8, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1033]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


        DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2013

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 6, 2012

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 5855) making 
     appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for 
     the fiscal year ending September 30, 2013, and for other 
     purposes:

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Chair, I rise today to express my 
opposition to H.R. 5855, the ``Department of Homeland Security 
Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2013.'' The need to find savings in 
the Federal budget must not be at the expense of homeland security. I 
am troubled that H.R. 5855 provides $39.1 billion for the Department of 
Homeland Security's (DHS) activities, which is $393 million below what 
the President sought for the Department to continue to carry out its 
homeland and non-homeland security missions and $484 million below what 
was provided for Fiscal Year (FY) 2012.
  H.R. 5855 also sends a troubling message about the majority's 
commitment to honoring its promises. Last year, Democrats and 
Republicans came together to pass the Budget Control Act. Both sides 
made sacrifices to achieve a compromise that would keep the government 
running and address Federal budgetary challenges. H.R. 5855 reneges on 
the commitments Republicans made last year by reducing the funding 
allocation for the Department of Homeland Security beyond what is 
required by statute and below the amount the Department has stated it 
needs. This ``bait and switch'' is unjustified and undermines the 
security of our Nation.
  As a result of the Republicans' misguided priorities, several 
programs critical to our national security are underfunded. For 
example, H.R. 5855 provides $45.4 million in funding for Infrastructure 
Compliance Programs for FY 2013, which is about $29 million below the 
President's request and $48 million below the FY 2012 enacted level. 
Under H.R. 5855, DHS will not have resources necessary to implement the 
long-awaited final rule for ammonium nitrate or fully-implement the 
Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program. As the 
author of the originating legislation for the ammonium nitrate security 
program and co-author of the originating legislation for the CFATS 
program, I strongly believe that these programs are at a crossroads and 
support is essential for them to realize Congressional intent and 
address vulnerabilities that put ordinary Americans at risk.
  H.R. 5855 also misses a critical opportunity to put a struggling 
border security and immigration enforcement program on a path to 
success. It rejects the President's proposal to transfer the US VISIT 
program to Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs 
Enforcement and, instead, sets up a new bureaucratic office--the 
``Office of Biometric Identity Management'' within the National 
Protection and Programs Directorate, where it has languished for nearly 
a decade. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 highlighted the 
need to identify and remove visitors to the U.S. who are legally 
admitted to this country but fail to depart when their visas expire, as 
four of the 9/11 terrorists were overstays. In response, Congress 
enacted the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, which directed the deployment of 
an entry-exit system ``with all deliberate speed and as expeditiously 
as practicable.'' While the US VISIT program has begun to capture 
biometric data of foreign travelers entering the U.S. at air, land, and 
sea ports, it has repeatedly failed to make progress in deploying a 
biometric exit system for travelers departing the U.S. This failure to 
fully implement the program has undermined DHS's ability to verify with 
certainty which travelers have departed this country. Inexplicably, 
H.R. 5855 rejects aligning this program with the agencies responsible 
for border and immigration enforcement, thereby sending the message 
that the House is not serious about tackling the alien overstay 
problem.
  With respect to homeland security grants, I would note that H.R. 5855 
provides $1.7 billion for State, local, and tribal grant programs, 
which is $412 million above FY 2012, but still falls short of where it 
needs to be. In FY 2010 and 2011, Congress recognized the first 
responders and first preventers on the State, local and tribal levels 
and provided $3 billion and $2.23 billion respectively. And, like last 
year, this bill punts responsibility for allocating funding to the 12 
targeted grant programs to the Secretary of Homeland Security. Last 
month, FEMA released the National Preparedness Report. The report found 
a direct link between grant investments and the development of 
preparedness capabilities. In areas that have seen substantial grant 
investment--from emergency communications to medical surge capabilities 
to emergency planning--State governments reported measurably improved 
preparedness capabilities. The report also found that in areas where we 
have not invested, we are less prepared. The report makes clear: 
targeted homeland security grants work. I fear that if we continue to 
fail to fund these important grant programs adequately, capabilities 
that we have spent over a decade developing will be lost.
  Finally, I am disturbed that H.R. 5855 is full of political 
sweeteners intended to rally support from the extreme right-wing 
faction of the Republican party. From slashing funding for the 
Transportation Security Agency, to increasing funding for the 287(g) 
program, to abortion limitations in ICE detention facilities, H.R. 5855 
is full of politically-driven provisions that distract from pressing 
homeland security matters and divert resources from addressing them.
  I recognize that the appropriators were faced with a difficult task 
in drafting this spending bill, and I appreciate the efforts of 
Chairman Aderholt and Ranking Member Price to draft a bill to 
adequately fund the Department of Homeland Security's activities in FY 
2013. The funding allocation being what it is, however, this bill could 
never fully meet our nation's homeland security needs. Therefore, I 
must oppose H.R. 5855.

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