Rogers Opening Statement at Markup

WASHINGTON – Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, delivered the following opening statement at a markup today.

Rogers Opening Statement:

I want to thank the Chairman and his staff for working with us on this markup.

The bills we will consider today present effective solutions to important homeland security issues. I hope we can incorporate these and other bills into a robust DHS authorization.

I wanted to briefly highlight the Republican bills on today’s agenda.

H.R. 5811 offered by Mr. Katko will improve the morale of the TSA workforce by expanding benefits for employees. I thank the subcommittee Ranking Member for his leadership on this issue.

H.R. 5828 offered by Ms. Lesko will enhance our border security by positioning CBP to better find and remediate illicit border tunnels. I thank the subcommittee Ranking Member for her strong work on this important issue.

H.R. 5804 offered by Mr. Crenshaw will expand the reach of the highly successful Blue Campaign which has done tremendous to raise awareness of human trafficking. I commend the Ranking Member for his efforts on this critical issue.

I’m happy to support these three Republican bills, as well as legislation authored by the Subcommittee Chairman Richmond and Ranking Member Katko to improve the cybersecurity capacity of state and local governments.

I also intend to support the remaining bills on the markup agenda today.

However, I will not support moving S. 2035 on the floor until the Senate agrees to move our TSA bills.

The Senate has yet to move important bipartisan TSA legislation from Ms. Lesko, Mr. Katko, Ms. Titus, and our late colleague, Mr. Cummings.

These are all bills that should have become public law at the end of last year.

I hope the Chairman would agree that it’s NOT in our best interest to move their bills when they refuse to move ours.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman I yield back.

 

###