The House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday approved a dozen bills, including two that codify existing acquisition policies within the Department of Homeland Security.
The Reducing Costs of DHS Acquisitions Act (H.R. 6871) would require DHS to report to Congress when a major acquisition program breaches its estimated life-cycle cost. A major acquisition program at DHS is defined as one costing at least $300 million or one defined by the department’s chief acquisition officer as a program of interest.
“Proper congressional oversight will help hold DHS accountable and eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse within the agency,” Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.), the bill’s sponsor, said in a statement.
Another bill, the DHS Acquisition Reform Act (H.R. 6871), introduced by Rep. Jake LaTurner (R-Kan.), designates the undersecretary of management as the chief acquisition officer within DHS and outlines the various acquisition authorities within the management directorate.
“Though DHS has been doing an average job at buying what it needs, it could be a much better steward of taxpayer money,” LaTurner said in a statement. “DHS continues to face challenges in its acquisition programs, such as the inconsistency of organizational and oversight structures and variability in the application of department policies.”
The committee also approved the Securing Air Travel Act (H.R. 6856), which would establish minimum civil monetary penalties of at least $5,000 to $12,500 for individuals found with firearms at a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) airport checkpoint. The bill would also direct TSA to require airports to improve signage related to prohibiting the carrying of firearms through security checkpoints.
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.), who introduced the bill, said that in 2021 TSA intercepted nearly 6,000 guns at checkpoints, a more than 80 percent increase over 2020, the highest number in the agency’s history.
The committee also passed a bill that would ban DHS employees and contractors for downloading or using the TikTok social media app on any information technology issued by DHS. TikTok’s parent company is based in China.
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could embolden the CCP’s (Chinese Communist Party’s) own expansionary goals,” Rep. Michael Guest (R-Miss.), the author of the No TikTok on Department of Homeland Security Devices Act (H.R. 6837), said in a statement. “In such a scenario, a security breach would be catastrophic to a U.S. response, which is why we must move to ban on DHS devices the use of apps that obtain data on their users and could make that information available to our adversaries.”