House Proceeding 06-04-09 on Jun 4th, 2009 :: 0:00:00 to 0:20:00
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by electronic device. x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x?e x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x?e xnays are zero. 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the

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resolution is -- the speaker pro tempore: on this

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vote the yeas are 416 -- the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 417, the nays are zero. 2/3 of tse voting having sponded in the affirmative, the rules are spended, the resolution is agreed to, and without object reconsider is laid upon the

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table. for what purpose does the gentleman from mississippi rise? mr. thompson: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on 2200. the speaker pro tempore: without

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objection, so ordered. pursuant to house resolution 46 74 and rule 18, the chair declares the house in the coittee of the whole house on the state of the union for the consideration of h.r. 2200. the chair appoints the gentleman from florida, mr. preside over the committee of

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the whole. the chair: the committee will be i'd ask members to either take their seats or take their

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House Clerk: conversations outside. the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the consideration of h.r. will report by title. the clerk: h.r. 2200, a bill to authorize the transportation security administration's

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Speech By: House Clerk

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Bennie G. Thompson: programs relating to the provision of transportation serity, and purposes. the chair: pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered as read the first time. the gentleman from mississippi, mr. thompson, and the gentleman from new york, mr. king, each will control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from mississippi.

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Speech By: Bennie G. Thompson

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Bennie G. Thompson: mr. thompson: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. thompson: i rise today in support of h.r. 2200, the transportation security administration authorization act. this legislation is a product of months of negotiations and includes significant

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Bennie G. Thompson: contributions stakeholders, labor, the government accountability office, and the department of homeland security's inspector general. i want to r bipartisan efforts of my colleagues on the committee. most especially, ms. jackson lee, the chair, and mr. dent, the ranking member. they worked hard to produce a

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Bennie G. Thompson: thorough, comprehensive, well consered bill. h.r. 2200 is the first to come to the house floor that fully thorizes the transportation security administration since its establishment in 2001. since that time t.s.a. has made significant strides and rolled out several important programs

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Bennie G. Thompson: to address security challenges. as a result, today our transportation systems are more secure than they were on september 11, 2001. however, they are not as secure as they need to be. with the change in administrations, t.s.a. is at a critical crossroads in its

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Bennie G. Thompson: eight-year history. h.r. 2200 steers t.s.a. on a course to becoming an effective agency that works to enhance security in all our transportation sectors, partners with key stakeholders, and does a better job of utilizing technology to address gaps in security.

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Bennie G. Thompson: mr. speaker, this bill fulfills our constitutional responsibility t provide a thorough road map to t.s.a. on where it should go the next two years. h.r. 2200 authorizes $15.6 billion for t.s.a. for f.y. 2010 and f.y. 2011. with these resources, the bill

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Bennie G. Thompson: directs t.s.a. for the first time to work to achieve greater parity between security efforts to protect aviation and surface transportation systems. in the past few years, a tax on -- attacks on rail stations worldwide have underscored the vulnerabilities to these systems. in response, h.r. 224u7bd

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Bennie G. Thompson: triples funding for surface transportation over what was provided in f.y. 2009. and authorizes 300 more surface transportation inspectors. among its key provisions is the creati advisory committee to provide greater stakeholder input and a surface transportation security

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Bennie G. Thompson: inspection office to train and manage inspectors. the bill also strengthens security traing for transportation security offices, flight attendants, all cargo pilots, surface transportation workers, and federal flight deck officers. i'm particularly pleased that we were able to include provisions

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Bennie G. Thompson: to enhance flight attendants' training and reimbursement for pilots participating in federal flight deck officer recurrent training. to bolster airport security and screening, h.r. 2200 authorizes a demonstration project and plan for the implementation of a

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Bennie G. Thompson: secure verification system for law enforcement officers flying while armed. further, it directs t.s.a. to develop a strategy risk-based plan to enhance security of airport perimeter access controls, and a demonstration program for biometric-based access control systems.

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Bennie G. Thompson: for too long we have been told that the wide scale deployment of biometrics is too difficult and impractical. but just last week, mr. speaker, i saw biometrics including readers in use in argentina at a port and a federal building. this bill embraces the promise

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Bennie G. Thompson: of this and other 21st century technologies to address our security challenges. . in addition, there are other noteworthy provision that gr out of extensive committee oversight that covers search programs -- suchrograms as registered traveler, secure

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Bennie G. Thompson: flight and the twig program. for example, this bill directs d.h.s. to work with port operators to -- and help workers who are waiting for cards to be escorted so they can continue to work. the twig provision also puts in place strict time lines and flexibility on how cards are transmitted.

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Bennie G. Thompson: a key theme that runs throughout the bill is greater stakeholder participation. the aviation security advisory committee is codified in this bill so, too, in air cargo and general aviation groups, general aviation in particular gets a great deal of attention in this bill.

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Bennie G. Thompson: members from both sides of the aisle have expressed serious concern about t.s.a. -- t.s.a.'s approach when it comes to general aviation. until recently, t.s.a. displayed a lack of understanding of a uniqueness of general aviation environment. h.r. 2200 takes some major steps toward -- forward with

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Bennie G. Thompson: authorizing a strong general aviation working group and the establishment of a new grant practical for security improvements to general aviation airports. finally, h.r. 2200 makes key improvements to air cargo and check back baggage security. specifically, h.r. 2200

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Bennie G. Thompson: eliminates the use of bag match as an alternative means of checked baggage screening. it also directs t.s.a. to develop a process to consider reimbursement claims by airports who investing in inline explosive detection equipment on a promise that t.s.a. would defray the cost. with respect to air cargo, it

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Bennie G. Thompson: requires t.s.a. to report on the status of the certified cargo screening program. t.s.a., mr. speaker, has testified that the 100% screening requirement for passenger planes will not be achieved by 2010 because t.s.a. has had to expend extensive

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Bennie G. Thompson: resources on trying to negotiate international agreements with foreign authorities on inbound international cargo. t.s.a. as the domestic security agency lacks jurisdiction or expertise to negotiate search agreements.

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Bennie G. Thompson: a team is dependent upon assistance from c.d.p., the state department and others and most specifically, foreign governments. to ensure that t.s.a. meets the statutory 100% screening requirement, section 201 of the bill gives t.s.a. up to two more years to negotiate agreements on

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Bennie G. Thompson: inbound international cargo. enactment of h.r. 2200 therefore will help t.s.a. put needed focus on working to meet mandates for screening all cargo transported between u.s. airports on passenger planes, whether originating in the u.s. or abroad. this provision in no way

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Bennie G. Thompson: eliminates the 100% screening requirement. instead it sets t.s.a. up for success and is responsive to the real world challenges of implementing the mandate in jurisdictions that t.s.a. has no jurisdiction. mr. chairman, i look forward to our work today and i encourage my colleagues to pass.r. 2200

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Bennie G. Thompson: in a swift, bipartisan fashion in order to better ensure the security of all americans. mr. chairman, i submit for the record exchanges of letters on this legislation. the chair: it will be covered by general lee. mr. thompson: mr. chairman, i'd also like at this time to acknowledge my ranking member,

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Bennie G. Thompson: mr. king from new york, who played a very important role in shepherding this legislation through the committee and i'd

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Peter T. King: like to acknowledge that at this time. mr. chairman, i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york, for what purpose does the gentleman from new york rise? mr. king: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. >> at the very outset let me

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Speech By: Peter T. King

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Peter T. King: commend chairman thompson and his staff and on the majority side for the corporation that they extended on this bill, for making it a truly bipartisan effort. i also want to commend t chair of the subcommittee, sheila jackson lee, for her bipartisan spirit and also a special way, congressman dent, the ranking member of the subcommittee,

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Peter T. King: this, as the chairman said, is a collaboratetive effort. there was tremendous cooperation. obviously there were differences between what we wanted and what ended up in the bill. this is basically a fine bill. and, mr. chairman, i also want to commend the outstanding men and women of the t.s.a. for the job that they do day in and day

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Peter T. King: out in protecting us. i see mr. pascrell is here, just in the new york, new jersey region alone last year they expected 110 billion passengers coming through those airports and again last week alone they confiscated 23 illegal firearms that were going through airports. so they do a very, very

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Peter T. King: dedicated and outstanding job and also as far as rail transportation, the viper teams have become a vital part of our homeland security apparatus. having said that, let me just mention some of the concerns that i do have about the bill. one is, mr. chairman, that there

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Peter T. King: is, as of now as of yet no t.s.a. administrat also, my understanding is that there's not even anyone in the wings. there's no one being considered, no one's being mentioned to be the t.s.a. administrator. and yet we put together this bill which i think is a good bill but without any inputrom the head of t.s.a. and since this is a two-year authorization, we're going to be

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Peter T. King: basically laying out a plan, a plan of action for the next two years, i would prefer that we could have waited until we got an administrator in place to work with his honor. nationally, mr. chairman, -- additionly, mr. chairman, the issue of an authorization bill

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Peter T. King: and the issue of jurisdiction. this will be, as i see it, the second year in a row that the committee will not have done an authorization bill. and yet next week the appropriations subcommittee, the homeland security appropriations bill will be marked up and the

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Peter T. King: appropriators will act without our committee's input on 80% of the department of homeland securi's budget. they will act without our input on 75% of the department of homeland security's personnel and they will consider funding programs like the 287-g program,

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Peter T. King: border security, stude visa enforcement, fema fema capabilities, the coast guard's security programs, secret service protection of the president, to name a few, all without guidance from this committee. now, i believe the main reason for this, and i understand the position that the chairman is in, the main, as i see the reason is that because of the multiplicity of jurisdictional claims to homeland security, it is very difficult for our committee to move forward. the 9/11 commission recommended,

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Peter T. King: one of their strongest recommendations was that homeland security be consolidated in one committee. several years ago there were 88 committees and subcommittees that claimed some piece of jurisdiction over homeland security. that number is now up to 108. and this should not be a partisan issue. both secretary sher to have in

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Peter T. King: the previous administration and secretary napolitano in the obama administration have called for consolidation and yet the not being done. so, for instce, if we had gone forward and tried to do an authorization bill, with we couldn't authorize the coast guard or fema because the committee on transportation infrastructure would object. we couldn't authorize

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Peter T. King: immigration ats could tums enforcement, immigration or u.s. citizen immigration services because the committee on judiciary would object and we can't authorize customers and border protection because the ways and means committee would object. so i think it's really important that we make an effort over the next year, during this congress, to implement, again, with the

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Peter T. King: most fundamental concerns of the 9/11 commission. that was to consolidate jurisdiction in one committee. the homeland security committee. and i beeve that in 2005 and 2006 when this side of the aisle did control the committee, we did get authorization bills done and when there were jurisdictional dispurities, we won them.

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Peter T. King: that's a direction we should continue to go in. i give the chairman credit. two years ago when we adopted h.r. 1 which implemented many of the 9/11 commission recommendations, but this fundamental one still has not been done. i realize that no one likes to see jurisdiction, no one likes to give up turf but we're talking about an issue which threatens the survival of our country.

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Peter T. King: homeland security and so long as we have this dysfunctional system where jurisdiction is spread out over so many committees of the congress, i don't believe we can fully do the job that we should do. the chairman does a good job, the staff does a good job. we do have a -- a very good job on our side of the aisle buzz we're limited because of these jurisdictional limitations. as we go forward on this debate

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Peter T. King: today, i would hope we would keep this in thank in mind. as we go forward through the course of the year, we keep that in mind also as we try to do the job we're established to do when we became a permanent committee back in 2005 and now, mr.

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Loretta Sanchez: chairman, i would ask unanimous consent that mr. dent, the subcommittee, be authorized it to control the remainder of our time and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from pennsylvania will control the balance of the time. the gentleman from mississippi. mr. thompson: thank you, mr. chairman, may i inquire as to how much time each side has

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Speech By: Loretta Sanchez

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Loretta Sanchez: remaining? the chair: mr. thompson has 21 1/2 minutes. and the gentleman from pennsylvania has 24 1/2 minutes. mr. thompson: thank you very much, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i'm happy to recognize the vice chair of the full committee for two minutes,

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Loretta Sanchez: ms. sanchez, for a colloquy. ms. sanchez: thank you, mr. chairman. th california is recognized. ms. sanchez: and thank you, mr. chairman. i rise in support of h.r. 2200, the transportation security administration authorization act and i would like to engage the honorable member from mississippi, the chairman,r. thompson, in a colloquy regardsing the transportation

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Loretta Sanchez: worker identity credential or twic as it is known here in the congress. during the full committee markup, i offered an amendment addressing several important issues within the twic program and i was pleased that my amendment was passed unanimousl a key provision in my amendment requires that the secretary of homeland security work with

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Loretta Sanchez: owners and operators of facilities and vessels to develop procedures which allow those who are waiting for their twic card to have access to secure and restricted areas. as long as they are escorted. this also applies to those who are waiting for a re-issuance of an existing card. without clear collaboration