The House Homeland Security Committee yesterday approved by a vote of 19-14 its authorization bill (H.R. 3116) for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that now must be approved by the full House.
The lone Democrat to support the measure was Rep. Henry Cuellar (Texas).
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved its version of the DHS bill last month and is awaiting approval by the full Senate (Defense Daily, Sept. 22). The bills, if agreed to by Congress and signed by the president, would be the first nearly comprehensive authorization bills for the department since it was established in 2003.
The House panel began its markup on Wednesday and completed the process yesterday, voting on over 100 amendments along the way.
Some of the amendments agreed to the past two days include:
· By voice vote two by Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Texas) requiring DHS to try strategic sourcing of systems for any marine and aviation assets it develops and acquires and for the acquisition of detection and screening equipment;
· Another by McCaul calling for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to deploy two additional Unmanned Aircraft Systems along the southwest border and another by Cuellar requiring CBP to deploy at least one more UAS to another location along the southwest border to mitigate against frequent weather-related problems that are limiting operations. The amendments were agreed to en bloc;
· One by voice vote by McCaul to examine the feasibility of using tethered aerostat radar systems for surveillance along the southwest border;
· By voice vote from Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.), requiring an assessment of the “specificity and sensitivity) of the current and next-generation BioWatch systems against established operational requirements so that the Science and Technology Directorate can conduct a trade-off study between the two;
· En bloc from Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) to improve security against illegal aliens obtaining a Transportation Worker Identification Credential by requiring either proof of U.S. citizenship or authority to work in the U.S.;
· By voice vote from Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) requiring DHS to inventory all of the software licenses it is using, and not using, and not to buy additional software licenses until all unused ones are used and more are needed;
· By voice vote from Billy Long (R-Mo.) directing CBP to used commercial-off-the-shelf software to create a Common Operating Picture (COP) that integrates existing security technology deployed along the northern and southern borders. The COP must be able to autonomously identify threats;
· By voice vote from Sanchez requiring within six months an implementation plan for a biometric exit system at U.S. airports under the US-VISIT program;
· Also by voice vote from Sanchez making it easier to cross enroll people in existing CBP trusted traveler programs into the Transportation Security Administration’s emerging risk-based airport security checkpoint trusted traveler program called PreCheck; and
· By voice vote from Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) favoring U.S. firms for any information technology equipment the department purchases.