“These three bills advance the American Security Agenda’s goal of modernizing DHS by identifying new terror threats, combating transnational criminal organizations and helping secure our supply chain.” House Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said. “I applaud Reps. King, Joyce and Crenshaw for their leadership on these issues.”

“There is no question that U.S. government and private sector systems are constantly under threat from nation states and criminals that seek to exploit our systems to steal information or undermine our operations,” King said. “The recent situations with Kaspersky, ZTE and Huawei demonstrate the very real threat a nefarious actor can pose to the federal supply chain and the necessity of securing it.  DHS’ mission requires the agency to protect our critical infrastructure from the threat of both kinetic and cyber-attacks. It is essential that DHS, as the agency charged with protecting our homeland, has robust risk management practices and tools that are capable of identifying, mitigating, and removing potential threats to its supply chain.”

“In order to stay ahead of our enemies and protect our country, we must be vigilant in our efforts to update our security technology and infrastructure,” Joyce said. “Developing new, innovative, strategies to ensure that America never falls victim to another terror attack, requires partnering with stakeholders in allied industries and ensuring we properly evaluate any potential weaknesses we might have in our national security. This legislation is a common sense approach to doing the number one job we have as lawmakers – keeping our citizens safe – and I urge the Speaker to take it up as soon as possible.”

“This builds upon H.R. 2609, which passed the House unanimously and creates the Acquisition Review Board,” Crenshaw said. “The next step is to clearly establish the roles and responsibilities for the management of major acquisitions for DHS. Bipartisan support for this bill demonstrates that the House continues to support eliminating waste in DHS’s acquisitions process.”

The committee also advanced four other Republican-led bills: Rep. John Katko’s (R-N.Y.) H.R. 3675 the Trusted Traveler Reconsideration and Restoration Act of 2019; Rep. Debbie Lesko’s (R-Ariz.) H.R. 3694, the Helping Families Fly Act; Rep. Van Taylor’s (R-Texas) H.R. 3246 the Traveling Parents Screening Consistency Act; and Rep. Paul Gosar’s (R-Ariz.) H.R. 3356, the Veterans Expedited TSA Screening Safe Travel Act.

“For pregnant women and families with young children, airport travel can be a stressful and time-consuming task,” Lesko said. “Thankfully, my bipartisan legislation will help make the airport experience for women and families quicker and easier while keeping our nation safe. I am grateful for my colleagues’ support today, and I look forward to a vote before the full House of Representatives soon so that we can help ease the burden on pregnant women and young families at our nation’s airports.”

“As parents, my wife and I know the stress of traveling with young children,” Taylor said. “Despite established, clear procedures, families across the United States have faced unnecessary frustration and difficulties when flying. Based on feedback from my constituents, this bill will help provide certainty to parents when traveling with breast milk, baby formula, and nursing products and I look forward to advancing this commonsense solution to the full House of Representatives for consideration.”

“Getting through airport screening can be challenging for anyone, but for our disabled veterans, it can be a major problem,” Gosar said. “As veterans who have proven their patriotic love of their country, Wounded Warriors suffering from a disabling condition deserve expedited security screenings. Under this legislation, the Department of Veteran Affairs would certify that a Veteran who is severely disabled would be eligible to apply for TSA Pre✓ free of charge and not have to pay for the $85 fee. This benefit is similar to what is already offered to Active Duty, Reserves, and National Guard servicemembers.  Let’s not nickel and dime our Wounded Warriors.”

Background: The American Security Agenda is a comprehensive legislative effort from Homeland Security Republicans to combat new and evolving threats to our homeland. The agenda is grounded on three pillars: granting DHS the authority it needs to stay ahead of emerging threats; providing DHS and its state, local, and private sector partners with the resources they need to build and maintain a robust capacity to deter acts of terrorism; and reforming DHS structure and management to ensure it properly positioned to combat the constantly evolving threat to the homeland.

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