Congress / Budget
Congresswoman Jackson Lee calls for tighter pipeline security
January 18th, 2008
When you first lay eyes on Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a stout, matronly black congresswoman from Houston, TX, you might not expect her to display an insider’s knowledge of the U.S. energy industry.
Capitol Hill: Heritage Foundation to Congress: Reform DHS funding process
January 18th, 2008
The Heritage Foundation is urging Congress to streamline its DHS budget-making process, by moving towards adoption of a single DHS appropriation bill. "Broad homeland security policy issues would be better addressed in an authorization bill than by a patchwork of legislation," the conservative think tank advised in a recent white paper. It added that a single authorization bill "would allow the authorizing committees to exercise more stringent oversight of the Department of Homeland Security." The report, authored by Senior Policy Analyst Mackenzie Eaglen, suggested that the streamlined process would also allow Congress to address the many homeland security issues that individual pieces of legislation have not covered, while reducing "reactive stand-alone legislation that is inevitably proposed after the latest threat or incident and directed at ever-changing security concerns."
Capitol Hill: DHS Science & Technology gets money – with strings
January 11th, 2008
Congress is asserting its role as the holder of the nation’s purse-strings, as it examines FY2008 DHS agency budgets. A case in point: The House Science and Technology Committee voted to give the DHS Science and Technology Directorate $850 million to invest in various technologies in the coming year, but congressmen on both sides of the aisle have been pressing DHS S&T for more accountability regarding how the money is spent. A bill sponsored by Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX) the Science and Technology Committee‘s ranking member, would require the directorate to clearly define the cost and operational requirements of its key portfolio budgets. More significantly, the legislation would extend through 2012 the life of the Homeland Security Science and Technology Advisory Committee, an interdisciplinary body of 20 experts who advise S&T Directorate executives. The move could mandate DHS S&T shift funds to more long-term security goals.
Capitol Hill: Senate passes Coast Guard "Deepwater" bill
January 7th, 2008
Senate passage of the Deepwater reform bill (S.924) just prior to Christmas recess paves the way for the U.S. Coast Guard to move forward with reforms urged by Congress and the Government Accountability Office. Chief among the bill’s provisions is that the Coast Guard assumes hands-on management of the troubled $24 billion, 25-year Deepwater modernization program. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) led the legislative fight for reform of the program. The Senate now awaits passage of similar legislation in the House of Representatives (HR 2830), which will determine Coast Guard funding in FY 2008, before a House-Senate conference can frame legislation for presidential signature.
Holding steady in 2007…
December 28th, 2007
It seems to me that 2007 was a year in which "homeland security" found itself in a holding pattern.
The Department of Homeland Security, which took such a battering in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2006, managed to hang onto the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in the face of some angry members of Congress who had recommended dramatic organizational changes.
Perhaps more importantly, the threats to the nation’s domestic security, while worrisome, never materialized in a bloody way in the U.S. itself, even as they emerged in deadly ways throughout the world.
With the transfer of power on Capitol Hill from Republicans to Democrats, the tone of the dialogue about homeland security certainly shifted. Where Republicans Chris Cox of California and Peter King of New York had used their chairmanships of the House Homeland Security Committee largely to defend the Bush administration, the ascendancy of Rep. Bennie Thompson, a veteran Democrat from Mississippi, to the same committee chairmanship, brought a relentlessly critical voice to the debate about homeland security priorities and funding levels.
Capitol Hill: Leahy bill kills WHTI passport requirement
December 28th, 2007
Legislation authored by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) that would prevent implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative requirement that passports be presented at the northern border has been included in a multi-agency budget bill headed for the president’s desk. George Bush is expected to sign the bill, despite administration opposition to the Leahy provisions. The Leahy bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), delays implementation of the land-crossing phase of WHTI until June 2009, and lays down seven conditions which must be remedied before passport requirements can be applied.
More from Capitol Hill...
DHS faces defining moments in an election year
December 28th, 2007
Predicting the future of homeland security is a risky business. But one thing is certain: the Department of Homeland Security and its programs will be at the center of political debates in the coming year’s presidential campaign.
Republicans have generally viewed homeland security as an extra layer of national military defense, while Democrats seek to refocus the mega-agency to meet more local security needs.
Arguments have already erupted between the major parties, and among candidates, over the role of DHS and the agencies and programs it oversees. The acrimony has reached such levels that it may be impossible to hold votes on some key homeland security initiatives.
One senator wryly observed that "any real decisions will be postponed until 2009," when a new administration takes office.
But the debate over the future shape of DHS, which could provide long term benefits for the nation as a whole, could result in the introduction and enactment of legislation in the coming year to correct defects in such key programs as the Secure Border Initiative, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, the Coast Guard Deepwater program and the introduction of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential.
Congress OKs insurance against terrorist attacks
December 28th, 2007
By a strong bipartisan vote of 360-53, the House of Representatives passed legislation to extend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) for seven more years.
