[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 150 (Wednesday, December 10, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H9014-H9015]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 DHS OIG MANDATES REVISION ACT OF 2014

  Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (S. 2651) to repeal certain mandates of the Department of Homeland 
Security Office of Inspector General.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                S. 2651

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

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``DHS OIG Mandates Revision 
     Act of 2014''.

     SEC. 2. REPEAL OF REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.

       (a) Repeal of Requirement To Conduct an Annual Evaluation 
     of the Cargo Inspection Targeting System.--
       (1) Repeal.--Subsections (g) and (h) of section 809 of the 
     Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2004 (Public 
     Law 108-293; 46 U.S.C. 70101 note) are repealed.
       (2) Conforming amendments.--Section 809 of the Coast Guard 
     and Maritime Transportation Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-293; 
     118 Stat. 1085), as amended by paragraph (1), is amended--
       (A) in subsection (a), by striking ``and (j)'' and 
     inserting ``and (h)''; and
       (B) by redesignating subsections (i), (j), and (k) as 
     subsections (g), (h), and (i), respectively.
       (b) Repeal of Requirement To Conduct an Annual Review of 
     Coast Guard Performance.--
       (1) Repeal.--Section 888(f) of the Homeland Security Act of 
     2002 (6 U.S.C. 468(f)) is repealed.
       (2) Conforming amendments.--Section 888 of the Homeland 
     Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 468), as amended by paragraph 
     (1), is amended by redesignating subsections (g), (h), and 
     (i) as subsections (f), (g), and (h), respectively.
       (c) Annual Review of Grants to States and High-risk Urban 
     Areas.--
       (1) Repeal.--Section 2022(a)(3) of the Homeland Security 
     Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 612(a)(3)) is repealed.
       (2) Conforming amendments.--Section 2022(a) of the Homeland 
     Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 612(a)), as amended by 
     paragraph (1), is amended--
       (A) by redesignating paragraphs (4), (5), (6), and (7) as 
     paragraphs (3), (4), (5), and (6), respectively;
       (B) in paragraph (4), as redesignated--
       (i) by striking ``paragraphs (2) and (3)'' and inserting 
     ``paragraph (2)''; and
       (ii) by striking ``paragraph (4)'' and inserting 
     ``paragraph (3)''.
       (3) Effective date.--The amendments made by this subsection 
     shall take effect on January 1, 2015.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Hunter) and the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Garamendi) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter).


                             General Leave

  Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
to include extraneous material on S. 2651.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  S. 2651, the DHS OIG Mandates Revision Act of 2014, repeals three 
reports the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General 
is required to conduct and submit annually to Congress. The reports 
include evaluations of the cargo inspection targeting system for 
international intermodal cargo containers, Coast Guard mission 
performance, and certain Department of Homeland Security grants.
  Without a mandate, the Department's Office of Inspector General can 
continue to conduct these audits periodically, but at its own 
discretion. CBO estimates repeal of these mandates will save nearly $2 
million to the taxpayers annually.
  I reserve the balance of my time.

                                         House of Representatives,


                               Committee on Homeland Security,

                                Washington, DC, December 10, 2014.
     Hon. Bill Shuster,
     Chairman, House Committee on Transportation and 
         Infrastructure, Washington, DC.
       Dear Chairman Shuster: I write to you regarding the 
     jurisdictional interest of the

[[Page H9015]]

     Committee on Homeland Security in S. 2651, the ``DHS OIG 
     Mandates Revision Act of 2014''. The measure passed the 
     Senate by unanimous consent on September 17, 2014 and was 
     additionally referred to the Committee on Homeland Security.
       In the interest of permitting the Committee on 
     Transportation and Infrastructure to proceed expeditiously to 
     the House floor, I will forgo further consideration of S. 
     2651. However, I do so with the following reservation. By 
     eliminating mandates of Inspector General investigations, 
     Congress lessens its voice in oversight of the Department of 
     Homeland Security. Under this lawless Administration, 
     Congress should have more of a voice, not less, in what the 
     Office of Inspector General investigates.
       In addition, I will forgo consideration with the mutual 
     understanding that the jurisdiction of the Committee on 
     Homeland Security is in no way diminished. I further request 
     that you urge the Speaker to name Members of this Committee 
     to any conference committee that is named to consider such 
     provisions.
       Finally, I request you include this letter and your 
     response into the Congressional Record during consideration 
     of S. 2651 on the House floor. Thank your for your 
     cooperation.
           Sincerely,
                                                Michael T. McCaul,
     Chairman.
                                  ____

         House of Representatives, Committee on Transportation and 
           Infrastructure,
                                Washington, DC, December 10, 2014.
     Hon. Michael T. McCaul,
     Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security, Washington, DC.
       Dear Chairman McCaul: Thank you for your letter regarding 
     the Committee on Homeland Security's jurisdictional interest 
     in S. 2651, the DHS OIG Mandates Revision Act of 2014.
       I appreciate your willingness to forego consideration of S. 
     2651, and wee that by forgoing action on this legislation, 
     the jurisdiction of the Committee on Homeland Security is in 
     no way diminished. Additionally, I would support your effort 
     to seek appointment of an appropriate number of conferees to 
     any House-Senate conference involving this legislation.
       Finally, I will include our letters in the Congressional 
     Record during House floor consideration of the bill. Thank 
     you for your cooperation.
           Sincerely,
                                                     Bill Shuster,
                                                         Chairman.

  Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I rise in support of this legislation. As summarized by my colleague 
from California, it alleviates the Office of Inspector General of the 
United States Department of Homeland Security from having to perform 
three annual audits.
  Repealing these audits will help to slightly reduce the burden of 
congressionally mandated reports. All this information is available to 
us in other forms and it is good to get rid of these reports, which are 
sometimes not really sent anyway.
  By the way, Mr. Hunter, congratulations on the recently passed Coast 
Guard legislation.
  Furthermore, eliminating the mandate will allow the IG to reallocate 
resources to something really useful, like finding out what went wrong, 
wherever it might be. This way, the legislation may improve the 
oversight of programs and the activities of the Department of Homeland 
Security, which would be extremely useful to Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, S. 2651.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________