Hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee - Opening Statement of Rep. McCaul, Hearing on Markup of H.R. 5869, H.R. 6198, H.R. 6265, H.R. 6375, H.R. 6400, H.R. 6430, H.R. 6438, H.R. 6439, H.R. 6443, H.R. 6459, H.R. 6461, H.R. 6447, AND H. RES. 1005.

Hearing

America's enemies are keeping us in their crosshairs. International terrorists are plotting and planning their next attack. Rogue regimes are pursuing the world's most dangerous weapons.

Nation states and hackers are waging a war against us in cyberspace and a national disaster could strike at any moment.

The American people are counting us to make sure we are prepared to minimize and defeat these threats.

This Congress our Committee has set a strong example for other Committees to follow.

Of the 99 bills that we have passed, 93 of them have passed the House with strong bipartisan support.

Because of this record, we were labeled the "hardest working Committee in Congress" by Politico.
Today, we have an opportunity to build on that success.

This morning's markup will allow us to pass twelve bills that tackle many different security issues within our jurisdiction.

One of those bills is from Congresswoman Lesko; her first piece of legislation to be marked up in our Committee.

Her bill requires DHS to conduct a threat and operational analysis of all U.S. air, land, and sea ports.

This analysis will guide a strategy and implementation plan to stop Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCO's) and drug smugglers from transporting illicit drugs and contraband into the United States.

We will also consider a bill that I have introduced to authorize the Biometric Identification Transnational Migration Alert Program known as BITMAP.

This program helps prevent potential terrorists and dangerous criminals from entering our country.
Our Committee will markup legislation from Congressman King that provides DHS with the authority to restrict IT products if it is determined that the vendor poses a threat to the DHS supply chain.

Additional bills to strengthen TSA and bolster cybersecurity will also be considered, among others.

I'd like to thank everyone who has worked hard on these bills. I look forward to working with each of you as we fight to keep our homeland safe.

Finally, I would like to recognize Mike Twinchek. At the end of the month, he will be leaving his position as Chief Clerk.

Mike has been with the Committee since it was first created and has served under Chairmen from both parties.

As Chairman, I am very grateful to have had him on my team.

We should all be thankful for his service and wish him the best of luck.

I now recognize Ranking Member Thompson for an opening statement.

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