[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 28 (Tuesday, February 23, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H830-H831]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        NATIONAL STRATEGY TO COMBAT TERRORIST TRAVEL ACT OF 2016

  Mr. KATKO. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(H.R. 4408) to require the development of a national strategy to combat 
terrorist travel, and for other purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 4408

       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 ``National Strategy to Combat 
     Terrorist Travel Act of 2016''.

     SEC. 2. NATIONAL STRATEGY TO COMBAT TERRORIST TRAVEL.

       (a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that it 
     should be the policy of the United States to--
       (1) continue to regularly assess the evolving terrorist 
     threat to the United States;
       (2) catalogue existing Federal Government efforts to 
     obstruct terrorist and foreign fighter travel into, out of, 
     and within the United States, as well as overseas;
       (3) identify such efforts that may benefit from reform or 
     consolidation, or require elimination;
       (4) identify potential security vulnerabilities in United 
     States defenses against terrorist travel; and
       (5) prioritize resources to address in a risk-based manner 
     any such security vulnerabilities.
       (b) National Strategy and Updates.--
       (1) In general.--In accordance with paragraph (2), the 
     President shall transmit to the appropriate congressional 
     committees a national strategy (including, as appropriate, 
     updates to such strategy) to combat terrorist travel. The 
     strategy shall address efforts to intercept terrorists and 
     foreign fighters and constrain the domestic and international 
     travel of such persons. Consistent with the protection of 
     classified information, the strategy shall be submitted in 
     unclassified form, including, as appropriate, a classified 
     annex.
       (2) Timing.--
       (A) Initial strategy.--The initial national strategy 
     required under paragraph (1) shall be transmitted not later 
     than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
       (B) Updated strategies.--Updated national strategies under 
     paragraph (1) shall be transmitted not later than 180 days 
     after the commencement of a new presidential administration.
       (3) Coordination.--The President shall direct the Secretary 
     of Homeland Security to develop the initial national strategy 
     and updates required under this subsection and shall direct, 
     as appropriate, the heads of other Federal agencies to 
     coordinate with the Secretary in the development of such 
     strategy and updates.
       (4) Contents.--The initial national strategy and updates 
     required under this subsection shall--
       (A) include an accounting and description of all Federal 
     Government programs, projects, and activities to constrain 
     domestic and international travel by terrorists and foreign 
     fighters;
       (B) identify specific security vulnerabilities within the 
     United States and abroad that may be exploited by terrorists 
     and foreign fighters;
       (C) delineate goals for--
       (i) closing the security vulnerabilities identified in 
     accordance with subparagraph (B); and
       (ii) enhancing the Federal Government's ability to 
     constrain domestic and international travel by terrorists and 
     foreign fighters; and
       (D) describe actions to be taken to achieve the goals 
     delineated in subparagraph (C), as well as the means needed 
     to do so, including--
       (i) steps to reform, improve, and streamline existing 
     Federal Government efforts to align with the current threat 
     environment;
       (ii) new programs, projects, or activities that are 
     requested, under development, or undergoing implementation;
       (iii) new authorities or changes in existing authorities 
     needed from Congress;
       (iv) specific budget adjustments being requested to enhance 
     United States security in a risk-based manner; and
       (v) an identification of Federal departments and agencies 
     responsible for specific actions described in this 
     subparagraph.
       (5) Sunset.--The requirement to transmit updated national 
     strategies under this subsection shall terminate on the date 
     that is seven years after the date of the enactment of this 
     Act.
       (c) Development of Implementation Plans.--For each national 
     strategy required under subsection (b), the President shall 
     direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop an 
     implementation plan for the Department of Homeland Security 
     and coordinate with the heads of other relevant Federal 
     agencies to ensure the development of implementing plans for 
     each such agency.
       (d) Implementation Plans.--
       (1) In general.--The President shall transmit to the 
     appropriate congressional committees implementation plans for 
     each national strategy required under subsection (b). 
     Consistent with the protection of classified information, 
     each such implementation plan shall be transmitted in 
     unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.
       (2) Timing.--The implementation plans referred to in 
     paragraph (1) shall be transmitted simultaneously with each 
     national strategy required under subsection (b). Such 
     implementation plans shall be updated and transmitted to the 
     appropriate congressional committees on an annual basis.
       (3) Sunset.--The requirement to transmit implementation 
     plans under paragraph (1) shall terminate on the date that is 
     ten years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
       (e) Prohibition on Additional Funding.--No additional funds 
     are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section.
       (f) Definition.--In this section, the term ``appropriate 
     congressional committees'' means--
       (1) in the House of Representatives--
       (A) the Committee on Homeland Security;
       (B) the Committee on Armed Services;
       (C) the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence;
       (D) the Committee on the Judiciary;
       (E) the Committee on Foreign Affairs; and
       (F) the Committee on Appropriations; and
       (2) in the Senate--
       (A) the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
     Affairs;
       (B) the Committee on Armed Services;
       (C) the Select Committee on Intelligence;
       (D) the Committee on the Judiciary;
       (E) the Committee on Foreign Relations; and
       (F) the Committee on Appropriations.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Katko) and the gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs. Watson 
Coleman) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York.


                             General Leave

  Mr. KATKO. 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 materials on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New York?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. KATKO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, as a former Federal prosecutor, I have spent much of my 
life focusing on keeping Americans safe; but when I assumed office, I 
was taken aback by the lack of a coherent strategy to stop terrorists 
from infiltrating our country and to keep Americans from being lured to 
fight with jihadists overseas.
  That is why I gladly accepted the opportunity to lead the bipartisan 
Task Force on Combating Terrorist and Foreign Fighter Travel. I worked 
closely with my colleagues to identify our Nation's top vulnerabilities 
and to close them quickly.
  Last September, we issued the Task Force's final report, marking the 
most

[[Page H831]]

extensive public review since the 9/11 Commission of U.S. efforts to 
fight foreign terrorist travel. We made 32 key findings and more than 
50 recommendations in that report for enhancing our security. I am 
proud to say that, as of today, we have acted on almost half of those 
already, including with several of the bills we are considering today.
  H.R. 4408 would implement one of our top recommendations. It would 
require the President to send to Congress a National Strategy to Combat 
Terrorist Travel and an actionable plan to implement it.
  It has been nearly 10 years since the White House produced such a 
strategy, and since then, the threat has changed dramatically. Terror 
has gone viral, and violent extremists are recruiting at the speed of a 
re-tweet.
  The consequences for U.S. and international security have been 
enormous. We have seen terrorist groups balloon into terrorist 
microstates capable of fielding their own armies. In fact, today in 
Syria and Iraq, we are witnessing the largest convergence of Islamist 
terrorists in history.
  Reports indicate nearly 40,000 individuals from more than 120 
countries have traveled there to join jihadist groups, including 
thousands from Western countries, like the United States. Many of these 
individuals have easy access to our country and could potentially 
return undetected to launch attacks, just as we saw happen in Paris.
  Yet, many of the counterterrorism programs we created after 9/11 are 
not suited for this new era and have not kept pace with the evolving 
threat. What is worse, there is no regular process in place in the 
executive branch for reviewing all of our defenses against terrorist 
travel to find security gaps and develop a plan to close them.
  Agencies are operating without clear, strategic guidance, and 
programs to counter terrorist travel are often not fully coordinated 
across the government spectrum. The result is that not only are we at 
greater risk that terrorists will slip through the cracks, but we also 
are at greater risk of government waste, overlap, and duplication.
  This bill would force the administration to assess all of the efforts 
in place to stop terrorists from crossing borders, streamline them, 
identify security gaps, and prioritize taxpayer dollars where they are 
needed most. It would also, for the first time ever, require the White 
House to produce a plan for intercepting foreign fighters.
  After 9/11, we spent a lot of time focused on keeping terrorists from 
getting into our country, but we did not spend enough time focused on 
stopping terrorists from recruiting our citizens to leave it and become 
overseas operatives. Once they travel to terrorist safe havens, these 
individuals become a triple threat. They strengthen jihadist groups on 
the ground, incite followers back home to conduct attacks, and can 
return battle-hardened and prepared to carry out their own acts of 
violence on their homeland.
  Make no mistake: we are at war. ISIS has already been linked to 
nearly 75 plots against the West, including more than 20 against the 
U.S. homeland. Our adversaries are clearly dead set on attacking this 
country. We need to show the American people that we are dead set on 
defending it.
  I am proud of the bipartisan work of the task force and grateful for 
the close collaboration of Mr. Keating, Mr. Payne, and Ms. Loretta 
Sanchez of California on the Democratic side. I would like to 
especially thank Mr. Vela for his continued support and significant 
contributions. I am, of course, indebted to my Republican colleagues on 
the task force for their hard work as well. I also want to thank my 
personal office assistant Tim Wang and committee staff Tyler Lowe and 
Katy Flynn for their excellent work on this as well.
  I urge all Members to join me in supporting this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4408, the National Strategy to 
Combat Terrorist Travel Act of 2016.
  H.R. 4408 requires the development of a national strategy to combat 
terrorist travel by bolstering efforts to intercept terrorists and 
foreign fighters, while also constraining their domestic and 
international travel.
  I applaud the work of the Committee on Homeland Security's Task Force 
on Combating Terrorist and Foreign Fighter Travel.
  One of the many findings of the task force's final report was that it 
has been a decade since the executive branch produced a government-wide 
plan to constrain terrorist travel. In the years since the issuance of 
the last government-wide plan in 2006, many programs aimed at 
restricting or preventing terrorist travel have changed or ended and 
new programs have been created.
  The task force found that hundreds of programs, projects, and 
initiatives have sprouted up to combat terrorist travel since 9/11, but 
there is no overarching strategy to coordinate them. Importantly, H.R. 
4408 requires that the strategy include an updated, full accounting and 
description of America's terror travel preventative and protective 
measures. This accounting should provide a valuable baseline for future 
efforts to prevent terrorist travel.
  H.R. 4408 requires the President to submit to Congress a national 
strategy focused on disrupting and intercepting terrorists and foreign 
fighters. The strategy is to include an accounting of all U.S. 
Government programs to constrain terrorist travel, identify gaps and 
how they will be closed, and describe actions to eliminate waste, 
overlap, and duplication of efforts.

  The evolving nature of the terrorist threat demands a whole-of-
government approach. A national strategy with implementation plans for 
each Federal agency involved, as H.R. 4408 requires, has the potential 
to deliver real security advances. As such, I support H.R. 4408, and I 
urge its passage.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. KATKO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I once again urge my colleagues to support this 
bipartisan bill, H.R. 4408.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Katko) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 4408, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. KATKO. 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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