[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 144 (Monday, December 1, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H8196-H8198]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1730
            NATIONAL LABORATORIES MEAN NATIONAL SECURITY ACT

  Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the bill (H.R. 3438) to amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to 
authorize use of grants under the Urban Area Security Initiative and 
the State Homeland Security Grant Program to work in conjunction with a 
Department of Energy national laboratory.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 3438

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

[[Page H8197]]

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``National Laboratories Mean 
     National Security Act''.

     SEC. 2. USE OF HOMELAND SECURITY GRANT FUNDS IN CONJUNCTION 
                   WITH DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY NATIONAL 
                   LABORATORIES.

       Section 2008(a) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 
     U.S.C. 609(a)) is amended in the matter preceding paragraph 
     (1) by inserting ``including by working in conjunction with a 
     National Laboratory (as defined in section 2(3) of the Energy 
     Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15801(3)),'' after ``plans,''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
Indiana (Mrs. Brooks) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Swalwell) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Indiana.


                             General Leave

  Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their 
remarks and include any extraneous material on the bill under 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Indiana?
  There was no objection.
  Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill simply clarifies that State and local 
governments and emergency management officials may use existing FEMA 
State Homeland Security Grant Program and Urban Area Security 
Initiative funds, known as UASI, to work with a national lab or 
research facility.
  H.R. 3438 amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 by inserting a 
clarification into the ``allowable use'' section of the Homeland 
Security Grant Program Title. Providing this clarification will allow 
these State and local first responders to leverage the expertise at 
national labs, should they choose to do so.
  This is a simple, good government measure that will help maximize the 
use of limited Federal grant dollars.
  This bill will allow State and local officials to cut through FEMA's 
red tape, which makes it harder for first responders to work with 
Federal national labs and make the best decisions for their homeland 
security needs. This bill will eliminate hoops that State and local 
grant recipients have had to go through in order to gain access to this 
expertise.
  H.R. 3438 is a commonsense, bipartisan bill. It is similar to a bill 
sponsored by former Congressman Dan Lungren in the 112th Congress, 
which passed the House by voice vote.
  I want to thank my colleague from California (Mr. Swalwell) for 
continuing to work on this issue, and I urge passage of this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SWALWELL of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time 
as I may consume.
  I rise in strong support of H.R. 3438, the National Laboratories Mean 
National Security Act, legislation that I have introduced that would 
expand the way in which national laboratories can help protect our 
homeland.
  I want to thank the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, Mr. 
McCaul, and the ranking member, Mr. Thompson, for allowing this 
bipartisan bill to move to the floor.
  I also want to thank my colleague on the committee, a fellow 
freshman, Mrs. Brooks, for working with me on this bill. Mrs. Brooks, I 
understand, is leaving the committee and will be going to the Committee 
on Energy and Commerce. We are going to miss her.
  I have enjoyed working with you also as a fellow prosecutor and as 
someone who has been an active participant in the United Solutions 
Caucus, trying to find ways that freshmen, Republican and Democrat, can 
work together.
  We are fortunate in this country to have a system of Department of 
Energy national laboratories, at which some of the brightest scientists 
in our country can work on some of the most complex issues of our time.
  They are keeping our national nuclear defense secure, advancing clean 
energy sources, and changing ways to protect us from the threat of 
chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear terrorist attacks. Now 
it is time to make sure that we maximize the way that our national 
laboratories and the gifted minds who work there can protect and secure 
the homeland.
  I am honored to represent two of these national laboratories, 
Lawrence Livermore and Sandia National Laboratories, and I look forward 
to representing them again in the 114th Congress.
  I want to take this opportunity to thank the thousands of employees 
at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Sandia National 
Laboratories, and our laboratories across the country for their 
commitment to country and their faithfulness to science and advancing 
human progress.
  Lawrence Livermore, Sandia, and the remaining DOE labs are truly 
unique institutions. One part of their uniqueness is their operating 
structure. This structure has caused an issue, and that is what this 
bill is designed to fix. It is to maximize and utilize the national 
laboratories in every way possible to keep us safe and secure at home.
  Now, to maximize efficiency and agility at our national laboratories, 
almost all the laboratories are what is called government-owned, 
contractor-operated--GOCO. While the Federal government owns the labs, 
they are operated by private sector organizations. Only one is 
government-owned and government-operated.
  Here is the issue. The Department of Homeland Security issues 
millions of dollars in grants every year to State and local agencies.
  Some State and local homeland security grant recipients have 
expressed uncertainty about whether or not they can work with 
Department of Energy national laboratories on homeland security issues 
with these grant funding sources.
  As Members know, FEMA offers grant programs, like the Urban Area 
Security Initiative, to help States, local governments, and other 
public servant entities to prevent and respond to terrorist attacks.
  In fact, in my district, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, led by 
Sheriff Greg Ahern, uses this grant, the UASI grant, to support Urban 
Shield, which is a comprehensive, region-wide preparedness exercise 
that prepares first responders in the case of a natural or manmade 
disaster.
  The confusion for some recipients may have been caused by the fact 
that they believe that they cannot use government-owned, contractor-
operated laboratories with Federal funds. FEMA may have been under a 
similar impression or been unclear to recipients on this point as well.
  These concerns are misplaced. There is no prohibition against using 
these funds. My bill will make sure, once and for all, that we use and 
we fully maximize our national laboratories and make sure that every 
recipient knows these dollars can be used there.
  My bill would clarify the issue by explicitly including in law DOE 
national labs as entities with which FEMA homeland security grant 
recipients could work.
  Providing this clarification would allow our DOE national labs to 
fully use their knowledge and experience to improve our homeland 
security. For example, at Sandia National Laboratories, they are 
providing modeling and simulations to help jurisdictions develop threat 
hazard identification risk assessments.
  Lawrence Livermore houses the National Atmospheric Release Advisory 
Center, which provides tools that help us predict and map how chemical, 
biological, radiological, and nuclear threats might spread in the 
atmosphere.
  H.R. 3438 is an important clarification in the law which will allow 
our scientists at Sandia, Lawrence Livermore, and across the country to 
more fully contribute to homeland security.

  As Mrs. Brooks pointed out, it is also a bipartisan idea, and it is a 
measure that was sponsored by former Republican Congressman and former 
prosecutor Dan Lungren, so I think it is fitting that it takes two 
prosecutors to bring it back to the floor here today to fix this. It 
passed in the last Congress by a voice vote.
  Some of the best and brightest minds in the world are toiling away 
right now at our national laboratories. Today, let's make sure that 
nothing stands in the way of maximizing these public servants' ability 
to keep our country safe.
  I urge all Members to support H.R. 3438.

[[Page H8198]]

  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, this is a bipartisan bill, and I 
too want to thank my colleague from California for picking up the torch 
that Congressman Lungren started that will permit this very important 
security coordination between our first responders, who work day in and 
day out on our behalf, and the national labs.
  As the Congressman from California has so eloquently stated, they 
have such incredible scientific expertise that needs to be shared with 
our first responders, and there is much good that can come from the 
passage of this bill.
  While FEMA is very careful in the manner in which it administers its 
grant dollars, we believe that this is one of those commonsense pieces 
of legislation that will make it much more efficient to allow those 
first responders to gain the incredible knowledge from our national 
labs, and so I urge its passage.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from Indiana (Mrs. Brooks) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 3438.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and 
nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

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