Reporting Efficiently to Proper Officials in Response to Terrorism Act of 2021

Floor Speech

I rise today in support of H.R. 1540, the Reporting Efficiently to Proper Officials in Response to Terrorism, or the REPORT Act.

Too many times, when a terrorism incident occurs within the United States, consistent and accurate information is not communicated to Congress. Many of us, especially from Texas, experienced this firsthand recently, when a British national, Malik Faisal Akram, took hostages at the Beth Israel Congregation in Colleyville, Texas.

And not only were the initial facts and circumstances of the incident unclear, but many questions remain unanswered regarding Akram's travel and admission into the United States.

This is completely unacceptable. Not only should Congress have all of the necessary information regarding terrorist attacks and other terrorism incidents, but the American people deserve to know what happened and how our government is responding.

The REPORT Act requires the DHS Secretary, the Attorney General, the FBI Director, and the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, to submit an unclassified report to Congress regarding any incident of terrorism that occurs in the United States. The report must include the following:

A statement of facts; any gaps in our homeland or national security that could be addressed to prevent future acts of terrorism; and recommendations for additional measures, or legislative issues, to improve homeland or national security and prevent future acts of terrorism.

I commend my colleagues, and specifically my colleague from California, for bringing this legislation before the Homeland Security Committee and to the floor today.

I urge Members to join me in supporting H.R. 1540, and I reserve the balance of my time.

I think this bill really strikes at the heart of what the Constitution says. We are a coequal branch of government, and the check and the balance on the executive branch, the executive agencies, is very important. We are elected, and we have a responsibility to go to our districts to report back about incidents that are affecting our country negatively.

And it is heartbreaking to hear any sort of terrorist attack, any sort of incident that is aimed at undermining our national security. That is why this committee was formed in the wake of 9/11. The purpose of our committee is to make sure that we have the ability to give the tools to those that are carrying out these missions; whether they are Customs and Border Protection, whether they are TSA agents, or any other agency that is entrusted with protecting the American public.

We deserve to have that transparency, as we have mentioned in a previous bill, and now to be able to report back. So I commend my colleague for bringing this up. And it is my sincere hope, similar to the other bills that we have discussed, that we can, as a coequal branch of government, offer that check and that balance on the executive branch, regardless of who is in power, regardless of the administration, to provide the necessary tools to continue to protect our country and all Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers. I urge Members to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source