[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 10 (Thursday, January 17, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H696-H698]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1200
    CHEMICAL FACILITY ANTI-TERRORISM STANDARDS PROGRAM EXTENSION ACT

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules 
and concur in the Senate amendments to the bill (H.R. 251) to extend by 
two years the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards Program of the 
Department of Homeland Security, and for other purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the Senate amendments is as follows:
  Senate amendments

       On page 2, line 10, striking [``6 years''] and insert ``5 
     years and 3 months''.
       Amend the title so as to read: ``An Act to extend by 15 
     months the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards Program 
     of the Department of Homeland Security, and for other 
     purposes.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Mississippi (Mr. Thompson) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Ratcliffe) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Mississippi.


                             General Leave

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent 
that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their 
remarks and to include extraneous material on this measure.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Mississippi?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as 
I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, last week, I came to the floor with Democratic and 
Republican leaders of the Homeland Security and Energy and Commerce 
Committees to urge the House to take urgent action to prevent 
termination of the Department of Homeland Security's Chemical 
Facilities Anti-Terrorism Standards program.
  The House answered the call by passing H.R. 251 by an overwhelming 
margin of 414-3. Now, the Senate has acted on this critical legislation 
and sent H.R. 251 back with an amendment. It falls to the House to get 
it to the President's desk.
  Although 414 Members of the House sent a strong message to the Senate

[[Page H697]]

that the program should be reauthorized for 2 years, which would have 
provided sufficient opportunity for meaningful engagement with DHS, 
stakeholders, and the Comptroller General, the Senate amendment 
authorizes the program for a shortened period of 15 months.
  I am concerned this abbreviated authorization period provides less 
stability for DHS and more uncertainty for the regulated community, but 
unless we act, the CFATS program will expire at midnight tonight.
  Allowing this program to lapse will be disruptive, irresponsible, and 
would sacrifice the important security gains that DHS and the regulated 
community have achieved.
  In short, allowing the program to sunset would make our communities 
less safe. After all, this program is designed to prevent the next 
West, Texas, where a dozen first responders lost their lives after a 
bad actor caused an explosion at a fertilizer plant, creating a blast 
that leveled an entire community.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my House colleagues to support this legislation, 
and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. RATCLIFFE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the Senate amendments 
to H.R. 251, the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards Program 
Extension Act. This bill reauthorizes the Chemical Facilities Anti-
Terrorism Standards program, more commonly known as CFATS, for a period 
of 15 months.
  CFATS is a vital national security program that makes Americans safer 
by helping chemical facilities secure dangerous substances. Under 
CFATS, security and industry stakeholders must work together to 
identify high-risk facilities and ensure appropriate security measures 
are in place to mitigate these risks.
  I look forward to working with my colleagues across the aisle and in 
the Senate to develop a long-term reauthorization to protect our Nation 
and provide certainty to industry.
  I thank my colleagues in the Senate for taking up this urgent matter 
to prevent this program from expiring, and I urge my colleagues to 
support this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I have no speakers, and I 
am prepared to close after the gentleman from Texas closes.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. RATCLIFFE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Shimkus).
  (Mr. SHIMKUS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding me 
this time, and I rise in support of H.R. 251, as amended by the other 
body.
  This amendment is far from ideal, but we have no other choice but to 
accept it. The most compelling reason not to oppose this amendment from 
the other body to a bill we passed last week by 414 votes is that it 
expires at midnight tonight, and that means the ability to check our 
facilities goes away. It is very problematic.
  Let me repeat that. By law, the authority to conduct inspections, 
protect security vulnerability information from terrorists, and help 
facilities with technical help to make them secure, it all disappears 
unless this bill is amended and passes the House and goes to the 
President.
  We must, as 414 of us did last week, keep the existing CFATS program 
authority going. I am glad we have a chance to do that here.
  The Chemical Facilities Anti-Terrorism Standards program was launched 
to surgically and directly address gaps in Federal law regarding 
terrorism and other intentional acts against high-risk facilities due 
to their use or possession of chemicals of concern and at levels of 
concern--most importantly, to ensure that antiterrorism was the focus 
and not a contentious regulatory arrangement.
  CFATS was designed to foster collaboration between the government and 
regulated parties. This program and its operations have not been 
perfect, but CFATS appears to have vastly improved in the last 4 years 
due to committed leadership and a vision for continued success.
  What troubles me, though, about the other body's amendment is it 
doesn't give CFATS much room to make more improvement. One of the major 
lessons to come out of the hearings we had in my committee on the CFATS 
program was that, from 2009 to 2014, 1-year authority extensions did 
not offer program stability and stagnated the program's improvement.
  It is no surprise to me that CFATS made its largest program 
improvements when it had 4 years of authority and not just 1 year. 
Moreover, 1-year authority extensions froze private-sector compliance 
investments as plant security managers couldn't convince their 
companies that the program would exist in the next year--this, even as 
many regulated entities had their own trade association programs that 
were supposed to supplement the CFATS program.

  I would have hoped the changes that we are making to this program 
would not stilt the hefty investments made by U.S. taxpayers to stand 
up this program or potentially strand the investment the private sector 
absorbs when Congress makes unexpected and rash decisions.
  All that said, the CFATS program and its authority have earned the 
right to continue. I had hoped a full 2 years would be what the law 
would be and would also provide the Department of Homeland Security the 
ability to demonstrate that its improvement is not a mirage and that 
additional progress in its work can be achieved. But we cannot allow 
this program to expire.
  Mr. Speaker, 83 percent of my House colleagues and more than 70 
percent of the Senate were not Members of Congress on September 11, 
2001--the chairman was and I was.
  Antiterrorism efforts don't get the kind of attention they once did, 
and the fact that we have had no chemical terrorist incidents since 
CFATS' inception is not proof that terrorists aren't interested in 
targeting these facilities.
  I want to thank my colleagues for their support of the program and 
the collaborative way we have worked together to keep this security 
program going.
  I look forward to efforts to extend the CFATS program in this 
Congress. We need to ensure that these chemicals are kept secure, 
terrorists are kept at bay, and that freedoms are kept protected.
  I urge all my colleagues to support H.R. 251.
  Mr. RATCLIFFE. Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support this bill 
to allow this program, which protects and secures our chemical 
facilities, to continue, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance 
of my time.
  Mr. Speaker, if the House does not act today, an important national 
security program would terminate in a matter of hours. I cannot 
overstate the threat that would pose.
  As DHS Secretary Nielsen put it in a letter last November: `` . . . 
if the program were to lapse as a result of the current sunsetting 
provision, it would increase the risk to our country and create 
uncertainty across the chemical industry.''
  Before I close, I want to thank my partners in this month-long 
effort. My fellow committee members, Representatives Richmond, Rogers, 
and Ratcliffe; my colleagues on the House Energy and Commerce 
Committee, Representatives, Pallone, Walden, Tonko, and Shimkus; our 
new partner in the Senate, Ranking Member Peters; majority and minority 
leadership staff, most notably Shuwanza Goff and Luke Murry; and Alicia 
Smith on my staff, as well as Jackie Cohen, Jerry Couri, and Julie 
Klein.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the measure, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson) that the House suspend the 
rules and concur in the Senate amendments to the bill, H.R. 251.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the Senate amendments were concurred in.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

[[Page H698]]

  

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