Hearing of the House Oversight and Management Efficiency Subcommittee of the Homeland Security Committee - Subcommittee Markup of H.R. 1615, H.R. 1626, H.R. 1633, H.R. 1640, and H.R. 1646
Hearing
I'm pleased to hold this markup today to consider five bills which will better safeguard taxpayer dollars
and increase transparency and accountability of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). I
appreciate Ranking Member Watson Coleman and the other members of the Subcommittee for their
commitment to work collaboratively on these bills.
The first bill under consideration is H.R. 1633, the DHS Paid Administrative Leave Accountability Act,
sponsored by Mr. Loudermilk of Georgia. According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO),
paid administrative leave, which is defined as an excused absence without the loss of pay or charge to
the individual, cost DHS $380 million from fiscal years 2011 through 2013. During this same period,
GAO found over 70 DHS employees were on paid leave for over a year, some of who were being
investigated for misconduct. This bill requires DHS to better track employees on paid leave for
misconduct matters and report to Congress on the costs associated with this leave.
The second bill under consideration is H.R. 1615, the DHS FOIA Efficiency Act, sponsored by Mr.
Carter of Georgia. The Freedom of Information Act, known as FOIA, provides the public an important
tool to ensure government is transparent and accountable. Notably, DHS processes the most FOIA
requests of any federal agency and half of all backlogged federal FOIA requests belong to DHS. This
legislation takes common sense steps to make DHS's process more efficient and hence increase
transparency and accountability.
Next, we'll consider two other bills: H.R. 1640, the DHS Headquarters Consolidation Accountability
Act, sponsored by Mr. Walker of North Carolina and H.R. 1626, the DHS IT Duplication Reduction Act,
sponsored by Mr. Hurd of Texas. Mr. Walker's bill will increase accountability and improve the
management of a multi-billion dollar project to construct a consolidated DHS headquarters in Southeast
Washington, D.C. Having recently toured the site, I believe this bill will help safeguard taxpayer dollars
moving forward. Mr. Hurd's bill focuses on reducing unnecessary duplication of Information
Technology (IT) systems across DHS. According to GAO, DHS plans to spend about $6 billion on
ongoing IT programs. We must ensure that we're not spending taxpayer dollars to duplicate these
expensive systems.
Finally, we'll consider H.R. 1646, the Homeland Security Drone Assessment Act, sponsored by the
Subcommittee's Ranking Member, Ms. Watson Coleman. I held a hearing in March to examine threats
from small, unmanned aerial systems (UAS) -- or drones. The hearing followed concerning incidents of
a small drone landing on the White House lawn and others flying over key Paris landmarks. Although
DHS has taken some steps to educate law enforcement and the public on small UAS, much more must
be done. This bill mandates DHS to research this threat and have federal agencies take actions to prevent
and mitigate drone attacks.
I extend my thanks to the members of the Committee for their work on these bills. The legislation we
consider at today's markup will increase accountability, better safeguard taxpayer dollars, and improve
the management of DHS.
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