OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

United States-Mexico Economic Partnership Act

Floor Speech

Date: Dec. 21, 2020
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: National Security

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Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I rise to emphasize the appropriate application and interpretation of Section 404 of the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, which has been included as Division W of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021.

Section 404 was authored by Chairman Bennie Thompson of the Committee on Homeland Security. Its essence is to establish a specialized fellowship program related to cybersecurity and intelligence within the Department of Homeland Security. The program is meant for certain undergraduate students from diverse racial, ethnic, cultural, and other backgrounds. And the Secretary of Homeland Security--who shall administer Section 404--also will have authority to hire successful fellowship participants as Department employees, and into positions involving cyber or intelligence.

The broader and most compelling goal being, of course, to ensure that the Department and the Federal government are doing their utmost to recruit, hire and retain a highly diverse workforce. The language of Section 404 must be interpreted and implemented by the Department broadly, with a mind towards attainment of this lawful objective; under no circumstances should it be read in an inappropriately narrow or needlessly restrictive fashion.

Although Section 404 does not require that students attend Historically Black Colleges or Universities or Minority-Serving Institutions in order to participate in the fellowship program, the Secretary of Homeland Security--who will administer this authority-- should make extensive efforts to promote the fellowship among students from HBCUs and MSIs.

Together with the other Members of the Homeland Security and Intelligence Committees, I will look forward to receiving the report required by Section 404, which will permit Congress to confirm that, in fact, the Department is conducting the necessary outreach to HBCUs, MSIs, and other Institutions of Higher Education; and, consistent with the approach I have set forth here, reading and applying Section 404's language in a manner that fulfills the initiative's overarching goal.

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