Michael McCaul

Mr. McCAUL

Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 623, the Social Media Working Group Act of 2015, which was introduced by Congresswoman Brooks, Congressman Payne, and myself. Social media is becoming an important tool before, during and after disasters. This becomes more and more obvious after every incident and was especially prevalent both after Hurricane Sandy and the Boston bombings. Almost two years ago, when two pressure cooker bombs exploded at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, local emergency managers and law enforcement turned to social media to alert the public, solicit assistance, and offer comfort to the city. Incidents like these point to the fact that authorities must embrace the use of social media as a way to both collect and disseminate information in the management of a disaster. Last year, I visited the headquarters of the American Red Cross with the author of this legislation, Congresswoman Brooks. One of the highlights of our visit was the Red Cross Digital Disaster Operations Center, where, in partnership with Dell, the Red Cross built the first- ever social media operations center for humanitarian relief. I was impressed to see how the Red Cross is communicating with disaster survivors through social media and how social media is changing the way we are able to prepare for and respond to disasters. In the last Congress, the Committee on Homeland Security's Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response and Communications held two hearings on the impact of social media before, during and after disasters. These hearings informed the writing of this legislation which authorizes and enhances the Department's Virtual Social Media Working Group to ensure best practices and lessons learned are shared with appropriate stakeholders, including the private sector, and ensure our first responders understand the ever changing dynamic of using social media. This measure passed the House floor with almost 400 votes in the 113th Congress, demonstrating its importance and bipartisan support. I urge Members to join me in supporting this bill today.

Mr. McCAUL

Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I strongly support H.R. 460, The Human Trafficking Detection Act of 2015. I am proud to be an original cosponsor of this important, bipartisan legislation, which will ensure that DHS personnel continue to receive the training they need to detect and disrupt human trafficking. As Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, I convened a field hearing in Houston during the last Congress to examine the issue of human trafficking. At the hearing, the Committee heard compelling and disturbing testimony on how human trafficking is destroying the lives of vulnerable populations across the globe, including here in the United States. Simply put, human trafficking is a despicable crime, and it must be stopped. I believe this bill is an excellent step towards that goal. The Human Trafficking Detection Act of 2015 would ensure that U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Transportation Security Administration, and other Department of Homeland Security personnel are trained to effectively detect, and to the extent appropriate, intercept and disrupt trafficking in persons, during the course of their normal roles and responsibilities. Not only would this legislation require effective training, it would also ensure that these employees are regularly provided with the most current trends and information on human trafficking and are adequately equipped to counter this growing problem. While the men and women at DHS carry out their everyday work, many of them are well-positioned to spot traffickers who may try to exploit our nation's transportation systems to move their victims, both from overseas and within our borders. H.R. 460 also ensures that Congress has insight into the level of success of the training being provided, and that the Department's State and local partners have full access to training curricula to establish their own trafficking awareness programs. I applaud Mr. Walker for introducing this legislation, and I urge all of my colleagues to vote yes on this common-sense measure.

Mr. McCAUL

Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table the bill (S. 1353) to provide for an ongoing, voluntary public-private partnership to improve cybersecurity, and to strengthen cybersecurity research and development, workforce development and education, and public awareness and preparedness, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. McCAUL

Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Meehan). Let me also, on a point of privilege, say what an honor it has been to serve with you, sir. We are going to miss you on this committee.

Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 2519) to codify an existing operations center for cybersecurity.

Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I would like to, first, start out by thanking--this was not one person. This was a huge team effort, both in a bipartisan way and bicameral way. I want to thank Pat Meehan for his great leadership on this. I want to thank Yvette Clarke for her great work and Bennie Thompson for being willing to come together in a bipartisan way on our committee to get something good done for the American people. I want to thank Senators Carper and Coburn for moving forward--not something that we see much this Congress, something actually coming out of the Senate back to the House to pass out of this Congress, something we haven't seen much these days. I also want to thank the staff. I want to thank Alex Manning, who is the staff director, and Brett DeWitt for his great work, tireless hours, and on the Democrat side of the House as well, holding over 300 meetings with the private sector, working day in and day out to get to the point where we are today on the House floor. Mr. Speaker, I consider this to be a historic moment on the House floor, as we pass the most significant cybersecurity legislation ever passed by the Congress. This issue 10 years ago, no one would understand it. Today, people are finally starting to wake up to the fact that the threats from a cyber attack are real. As we look at threats from China, from Russia, from Iran, we look at the theft of IP--a lot of people have been hurt personally with Home Depot and Target--we look at the theft of intellectual property from Russia and China, we look at the espionage on a daily basis, every Federal agency being hacked into, including the Pentagon, to steal things out of this Federal Government, to hurt our national security, and then, finally, we look at the most malicious threat, and that is a threat to shut things down. We saw recently, Mr. Speaker, an attack from Iran that shut down 30,000 hard drives of Aramco, the largest energy producer in Saudi Arabia, while simultaneously hitting our financial sector. They continue to hit our financial sector every day. They are hitting them as I speak right now. We look at power grids being brought down and water and energy. This threat is real. This threat must be dealt with. I am pleased on the very last day of this Congress that we are going to pass legislation that is going to protect America and make it safer, that is going to protect our critical infrastructures from this daily attack by foreign enemies that we have, unfortunately, across the globe. How will that work? This bill will codify what is called the NCCIC. The National Cybersecurity Protection Act will create and codify a cyber command structure within DHS, the Department of Homeland Security, that is a civilian interface to the private sector which has been supported by both business groups like the Chamber and privacy groups like the ACLU. It is amazing how we can bring this coalition together, but that is how strong this bill is: privacy and business coming together, doing what is right. This will create a safe harbor, Mr. Speaker, where the 16 critical infrastructures, the 16 sectors, can come together. The Federal Government can take our threat information, our malicious codes that they use to attack us, and share that with the private sector. It also allows the private sector to share the information that they have with the Federal Government in a safe harbor that is protected both businesswise and personally as well. Eighty to 85 percent of this threat information lies in the private sector. This coalition, if you will, this partnership of information sharing will better protect our critical infrastructures, and most importantly, to have the 16 sectors on the floor at the Department of Homeland Security, at the cyber command, and at the NCCIC all on the floor together sharing information, not just public and private, but amongst the sectors themselves--which is not taking place today--will go a long way to protecting American people and our critical infrastructures. We have great offensive capability in this country. Our military has great cyber offensive capability to shut things down; in the wrong hands, that makes us very vulnerable. Where our weakness, our vulnerability lies is our ability to defend the Nation against these cyber attacks, and they are getting worse and more malicious by countries and state actors that don't really like us and want to do us harm. I am proud of the work that we have done. I am proud of the work we have done in a bipartisan way, the work this committee has done, and I am proud of what the Senate has finally achieved to bring this finally to the point where we can pass this bill out of the United States Congress and have it signed into law by the President of the United States. At the end of the day, it is what we got elected here to do, and that is to do good things to govern and get good things done on behalf of the American people. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include any extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I too want to recognize all the Members involved, the Senate, and staff. To my ranking member, Bennie Thompson, I guess, as Churchill said: Never, ever give up. Here we are on the last day of this Congress getting this done. What a gratifying experience it is. What a great moment it is not just for this Congress but, more importantly, for the American people and what it represents. Seventy-three years ago this week, this Nation was attacked at Pearl Harbor. There are a lot of people that make analogies to what would be a cyber Pearl Harbor if we are caught unprepared. I believe this bill will go a long way to defending the Nation from what would be called a cyber Pearl Harbor event. My father served as a B-17 bombardier in the European theater. He flew over 32 missions, including the air campaign in advance of the D- day invasion and the Battle of the Bulge. They dropped kinetic bombs. In the cyber world that we live in, we have to worry about digital bombs and how we can stop that from hurting the United States, from impacting the United States, from bringing the United States to its knees. I believe this is the first step of many, and I look forward to working on more legislation next Congress, but this is the historic first step that we have taken in this Congress to move forward on this very important issue and get it done to protect the American people. With that, let me again thank everyone for their efforts. This has been a great day for America. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. McCAUL

Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I support H.R. 1204, the Aviation Security Stakeholder Participation Act, sponsored by the gentleman from Mississippi, the Ranking Member of the Committee on Homeland Security, Mr. Thompson. This legislation, as amended by the Senate, will ensure that TSA is maintaining open lines of communication with relevant stakeholder groups through the Aviation Security Advisory Committee (ASAC). H.R. 1204 codifies the existing ASAC and prohibits TSA from allowing the Committee's charter to lapse, as has happened in the past. It also ensures a diverse group of stakeholders have a seat at the table, requires TSA to provide feedback on the Committee's recommendations, and makes it possible for the Committee to discuss sensitive security information, as appropriate. The ASAC and all of its members have a vested interest in the security of our nation's critical aviation systems and can help TSA make well-informed, effective policy decisions. The type of collaborative effort that the ASAC fosters is vitally important to our nation's aviation security, and I thank the Ranking Member for developing H.R. 1204 and for his leadership on this issue. I also thank the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Transportation Security, Mr. Hudson, and the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee, Mr. Richmond, for their commitment to improving TSA. Finally, I wish to thank our colleagues in the Senate for their work on this bill, including Senators Tester, Rockefeller, Thune, and Ayotte. I urge my colleagues to support the Senate amendment to H.R. 1204 and send this bill to the President for his signature.

Mr. McCAUL

Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I strongly support H.R. 2719, the Transportation Security Acquisition Reform Act, which was developed, introduced, and championed by the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Transportation Security, the distinguished gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. Hudson. The Senate amendment to H.R. 2719, offered by Senator Ayotte, would strengthen the underlying bill and ensure that TSA is consulting stakeholders throughout the technology acquisition process. I thank the Senator for working with our Committee to move this common sense bill across the finish line. As Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, I have seen first-hand the need for TSA to develop a comprehensive investment plan for acquiring new technologies and to use its limited resources in a more efficient and effective manner. H.R. 2719 sets clear mandates for TSA to develop and maintain a five-year acquisition strategy that will help industry make informed investment decisions and lead to more effective technologies in our nation's airports to meet the evolving terrorist threats we face. The requirements of this bill will also ensure that Congress receives early warning and insight into potentially wasteful spending practices, which will strengthen the Committee's oversight and enable TSA to be a better steward of taxpayer dollars. I would like to thank Chairman Hudson for his dedicated effort to reform TSA, as well as the Ranking Member of the Full Committee and the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee for their strong support of this important legislation, which will hold TSA accountable and increase transparency for the millions of dollars the agency spends every year on technology. I would also like to express appreciation to the many stakeholder associations that have provided their input and given their support to this no-cost, bipartisan bill. I urge my colleagues to support the Senate amendment to H.R. 2719 and send this bill to the President for his signature.

Mr. McCAUL

Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California, the chairman, whose amendment I support here today, and I will support any measure that will lead to the destruction of ISIS. This administration has known about this threat for over a year. It wasn't until the two beheadings of an American journalist and a British aid worker that the American people really understood the pure evil that is ISIS. The White House has been sending mixed messages. Words do matter. Finally, I believe this administration realized, despite its flawed narrative over the years, what the threat from ISIS really is. In fact, General Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said, to fully defeat ISIS, we have to go into Syria. I agree with him. We must cut off the head of the snake wherever it exists, and it does exist in Syria. While limited in nature, this authorization will begin the process to do just that by vetting, equipping, and training moderate forces by the United States military in Saudi Arabia. I had some reservations about the vetting process. I did visit with Pentagon officials, and I got greater confidence. I do believe the numbers are a little bit too low, but the broader strategy under General Allen is to lead a coalition not only of NATO allies, but of these moderate Sunni nations to build a ground force in Syria which currently does not exist. It is vital, Madam Speaker, that Sunni moderates stand up, Sunni moderates and Arab nations step up to the plate to defeat and combat Sunni extremists in their own backyard. While this is a step in the right direction, I believe that, long term, the administration needs to come forward with a comprehensive strategy, one that the American people and Congress can debate, which could be fully authorized by Congress. In closing, Madam Speaker, there is nothing more important that we debate up here, that we talk about here, that we vote on up here than matters of war and peace. It is for that reason that I support this amendment. For, if we do not hit ISIS overseas, they will certainly hit us in the United States.

Mr. McCAUL

Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I strongly support H.R. 5462, and I am proud to be an original cosponsor of this important bipartisan legislation. This bill clarifies Congressional intent on the matter of security fees incurred by airline passengers and corrects the Transportation Security Administration's misinterpretation of the Bipartisan Budget Act's minor modifications to these fees. TSA should not collect additional passenger security fees beyond what Congress has authorized. H.R. 5462 is common sense, bipartisan legislation to clarify the fee structure that Congress intended and protect the traveling public from millions of dollars in excess charges on their flights. I applaud Subcommittee Chairman Hudson, as well as Ranking Member Thompson and Ranking Member Richmond for working together on a bipartisan basis to address this problem. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. McCAUL

Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, across this nation tens of thousands of children live with rare pediatric diseases, such as childhood cancers, that threatens their bright futures. As the chairman of the Childhood Cancer Caucus, I have personally met with dozens of children and their families who are desperate for treatments. Since the 1980s, only one new treatment has been developed for children with cancer. Sadly, for many other rare pediatric diseases, no Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved treatment exists at all. That is why I introduced the Creating Hope Act in 2011, to create an incentive for drug companies to develop new treatments for children with rare pediatric diseases, such as pediatric cancers. Without any cost to the taxpayer, the Creating Hope Act established a priority review voucher (PRV) for rare pediatric diseases as Sec. 908 of the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act. As an incentive for developing a new rare pediatric disease treatment, a company can be awarded a PRV by the FDA. The voucher entitles a company to a priority six month review of another new drug application that would otherwise be reviewed under the FDA's standard ten month review period. Companies can also choose to sell or transfer the voucher to another drug sponsor. On Valentine's Day this year the first rare pediatric disease PRV was awarded to BioMarin for Vimizim to treat Morquio A Syndrome. There are fewer than 800 kids in the United States with Morquio A Syndrome. Vimizim will help children living with this terrible disease to live a longer and healthier life. That's what every kid should have. And just this week, BioMarin sold its voucher to Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi for $67.5 million. This will allow BioMarin to reinvest their new earnings in even more products to treat rare and ultra-rare diseases. And it will allow Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi to speed up FDA review of Alirocumab, an experimental drug designed to lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in patients who have previously tried other treatments. This is a win-win for the companies, but best of all this will benefit patients. Mr. Speaker, I believe this news demonstrates the value of this important program. As Dr. Ned Braunstein, Regeneron's Vice President for Regulatory Affairs, said after his company announced that it was buying BioMarin's voucher, the ``decision to acquire and leverage the voucher is clear evidence that this program is a valuable incentive for biopharmaceutical companies.'' Many people deserve credit for helping to make the Creating Hope Act a reality. Congressman Fred Upton, the Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Congressman G.K. Butterfield, Dr. Michael Burgess, the Vice Chair of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, and former Congresswoman Sue Myrick, were all tremendous champions of this law. So too were many countless advocates, but most of all Nancy Goodman. A mother and an advocate, Nancy is the founder and executive director of Kids V Cancer, which is fighting to change the landscape of pediatric research. More children deserve life-saving treatments which is why I hope to work with my colleagues to make the rare pediatric disease Priority Review Voucher program permanent. As a father I can think of nothing more important than investing in our children's futures.

Mr. McCAUL

Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, let me thank the chairman of the Appropriations Committee for his hard work and Chairwoman Kay Granger for heading up this task force that I was honored to be a part of. As the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee and a former Federal prosecutor who has dealt with the border for many years, I have never seen a crisis quite like this one. This crisis demands action. It demands leadership, and it demands a solution to the problem. Since the President enacted DACA in 2012, we have seen 60,000 unaccompanied children cross into the border, in the Rio Grande Valley sector of Texas alone, 250 per day. We went down there to see these children. These children are the victims caught between the administration's policies and the coyotes and the traffickers who exploit them and make money, between $5,000 to $10,000 apiece. Madam Speaker, this bill fixes that crisis. First and foremost, this changes the 2008 trafficking law as a message of deterrence. This crisis will not stop until we start sending them back, and all this does is it treats Central Americans the same way we treat Mexicans. It will provide for swift removal in a humane way back to their countries of origin. It is unfortunate that the administration, while initially supportive, has now flip-flopped on that issue. It also provides for the detention, removal, and repatriation of these children. For me and my home State of Texas, importantly, it calls for the deployment of the National Guard to the southwest border to secure our border. My Governor, Governor Perry, has already activated the National Guard. But it is the Federal Government's responsibility, under the Constitution, to pick up that price tag, and that is precisely what this bill does. Finally, Madam Speaker, I think, importantly, it directs the Southern Command, our military, to help secure the border between Guatemala and Mexico, which I believe, and I know the chairman of Appropriations as well believes, is a key to stopping the flow out of Central America. Madam Speaker, the time to act is now.

Mr. McCAUL

Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I submit the following exchange of letters between the Committee on Homeland Security and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure relating to H.R. 4263, the Social Media Working Group Act of 2014. Committee on Transportation Infrastructure, House of Representatives, Washington, DC, July 7, 2014. Hon. Michael T. McCaul, Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security, Washington, DC. Dear Mr. Chairman: I write concerning H.R. 4263, the Social Media Working Group Act of 2014, as reported by the Committee on Homeland Security on June 19, 2014. There are certain provisions in the legislation that fall within the Rule X jurisdiction of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. In order to expedite this legislation for floor consideration, the Committee will forgo action on this bill. However, this is conditional on our mutual understanding that forgoing consideration of the bill does not alter or diminish the jurisdiction of the Committee with respect to the appointment of conferees or to any future jurisdictional claim over the subject matters contained in the bill or similar legislation. I request you urge the Speaker to name members of the Committee to any conference committee named to consider such provisions. Please place a copy of this letter and your response acknowledging our jurisdictional interest into the Congressional Record during consideration of the measure on the House Floor. Sincerely, Bill Shuster, Chairman.

Mr. McCAUL

Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2952, the Critical Infrastructure Research and Development Advancement Act of 2013, sponsored by Chairman Meehan. This legislation is vital in our nation's efforts to protect our critical infrastructure from attacks. The Department of Homeland Security has identified 16 sectors of the U.S. economy so vital, that disruption or destruction would result in catastrophic life-threatening or life-altering challenges. The CIRDA Act will assist the Department by encouraging the development and procurement of new technologies aimed at infrastructure protection. I thank Chairman Meehan for his efforts in crafting thoughtful legislation that will enhance DHS' research and development tools, streamline its public-private coordination efforts, while ensuring that technological and product solutions are shared between the Department and its private sector partners. This bill is a bipartisan effort that was passed out of both subcommittee and full committee by voice vote, and I thank the subcommittee Chairman and Ranking Member for their work. I urge support for H.R. 2952.

Mr. McCAUL

Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, in closing, let me echo the sentiments of the gentlewoman from New York. I want to thank you and Mr. Meehan for your work on this bill. You are truly the workhorses--the engines--behind this bill, and I want to thank you for helping us get to this point where we are today. Congressman Langevin, we were talking about cybersecurity before it was cool to talk about cybersecurity. Forming the Cybersecurity Caucus, I think, raises awareness of Members of Congress about how important this issue really is, because, I think, when you talk about this issue, Mr. Speaker, people's eyes tend to glaze over. They don't understand how important this is in protecting the American people. This is a national security bill. I don't believe partisan politics has a place in that. I was at The Aspen Institute with Jane Harman, who served on our committee and on the Intelligence Committee for many years, who also believes that our adversaries don't care whether we are Democrat or Republican. They care about the fact that we are Americans, and they want to hit us. We have adversaries who want to hit us--China, Russia, Iran, and countless others--in the cybersecurity space. This is a pro-security and pro-privacy bill. I had a reporter ask me, How could you possibly get the ACLU to agree on any security bill? It protects Americans' privacy but also their security through the private civilian interface to the private sector, and that is how we do it. It is not through the military. The NSA has a foreign intelligence role, and the DHS has a domestic critical infrastructure role. Of course, Director Alexander called cybersecurity and what has happened in recent years the largest transfer of wealth in history. So when the American people say: Why is this so important; the largest transfer of wealth in American history? Why is this so important? Because cyber can bring down things, can shut down things in a 9/11 style. We have a historical moment in this Congress to pass the first cybersecurity bill through the House and Senate and be signed into law in the history of the Congress. As this bill passes--I hope, in a few minutes--and we send it over to the Senate, I hope our colleagues on the Senate side will respond to this. They have made great progress on the Senate side in getting work done on cybersecurity. We have a unique opportunity and a great moment here to pass this bill out of the House, get it married with the Senate bill in a bipartisan way to protect the American people, and get it signed into law by the President, something that we very rarely have seen in this Congress. So I think it is a very historic moment. To close, Mr. Speaker, when 9/11 happened, a lot of people did a lot of finger pointing around here and pointed to Members of Congress and to the executive branch and said: What did you do to stop this? What did you do to stop this? We had a 9/11 Commission that pointed out all the vulnerabilities and the things that we didn't do as Members of Congress. I don't want that to happen again today. I want to be able to say, Mr. Speaker, if, God forbid, we get hit, and we get hit hard in a cyber attack against the United States of America, that we as Members of Congress and members of this committee did everything within our power to stop it. Mr. Speaker, I am proud of the great work we have done together. I look forward to the passage of this bill. I yield back the balance of my time. House of Representatives, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Washington, DC, February 24, 2014. Hon. Michael McCaul, Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security, Washington, DC. Dear Chairman McCaul: I am writing to you concerning the jurisdictional interest of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology in H.R. 3696, the ``National Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection Act of 2013.'' The bill contains provisions that fall within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. I recognize and appreciate the desire to bring this legislation before the House of Representatives in an expeditious manner, and accordingly, I will waive further consideration of this bill in Committee, notwithstanding any provisions that fall within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. This waiver, of course, is conditional on our mutual understanding that agreeing to waive consideration of this bill should not be construed as waiving, reducing, or affecting the jurisdiction of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. This waiver is also given with the understanding that the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology expressly reserves its authority to seek conferees on any provision within its jurisdiction during any House-Senate conference that may be convened on this, or any similar legislation. I ask for your commitment to support any request by the Committee for conferees on H.R. 3696 as well as any similar or related legislation. I ask that a copy of this letter and your response be included in the report on H.R. 3696 and also be placed in the Congressional Record during consideration of this bill on the House floor. Sincerely, Lamar Smith, Chairman, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time. I believe the gentlewoman from New York has a few additional speakers, so I am prepared to close once the gentlewoman does. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Meehan), chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security's Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies, who has spent, I must say, countless hours advancing this bill, meeting with the private sector and privacy groups to get to this point where we are today. I want to commend you, sir, for a job well done.

Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3696) to amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to make certain improvements regarding cybersecurity and critical infrastructure protection, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. McCAUL. I want to give a great deal of thanks not only to the Members involved, but to the staff on this committee on both sides of the aisle who have worked countless hours to bring this bill to its fruition on the floor of the House. I also would like to bring special attention to the endorsement from the ACLU. They refer to H.R. 3696 as ``both pro-security and pro- privacy.'' When have we heard these two coming together? Striking a balance between security and privacy, I believe, is one of the most difficult challenges in developing cybersecurity legislation, and I am so very proud that this committee and this bill achieves that goal. I want to close with the threat that I see out there from cyber. People ask me: What keeps you up at night? We can talk about al Qaeda, Mr. Putin, or ISIS in Iraq and Syria, we can talk about our border and the threats south of the border, but when I see our offensive capability and what we can do offensively, knowing at night that we don't have the defensive capability to stop attacks not only to steal things, not only criminal IP theft, not just espionage, but the power to shut things down and to bring this country to its knees with a cyber 9/11, Mr. Speaker, is really what keeps me up at night. My father was a World War II bombardier on a B-17. He flew over 32 missions in Europe in support of the D-day invasion and the Battle of the Bulge. In his days, bombs won that war. We have a new kind of warfare out there. It is a digital warfare, and the game has changed. It is done anonymously. There are no boundaries to this cyber threat any more. It can come from anywhere, at any time, without being able to attribute it back to the source from where the attack came from. This bill will for the first time codify DHS' ability--and the NCCIC, which is their cyber command, to better defend and support critical infrastructure in the United States that we so heavily depend on, and it will ultimately protect not only our economy and our infrastructure, but ultimately protect the American people. With that, Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to support this important legislation to protect America, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McCAUL

Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3107, the Homeland Security Cybersecurity Boots-on-the-Ground Act, sponsored by Ranking Member Clarke. H.R. 3107 includes important provisions to bolster the cybersecurity workforce at the Department of Homeland Security. Across our nation, businesses, colleges and universities are transforming their organizations to include strong and robust cybersecurity practices. It is essential that DHS is hiring the best and the brightest that this emerging field has to offer. The Department's efforts to protect the homeland from an attack depend on it. The legislation offered by Ms. Clarke was introduced and passed out of the committee with bipartisan support and we were pleased to have worked with her to adjust the language to mirror the workforce provisions in the full committee's cyber bill. It will require the Department to take inventory of its cyber workforce, including those of other Federal agencies. Subsequently, the Secretary will be required to present to Congress a workforce strategy, focused on how to attract and maintain top cybersecurity experts. These new provisions will help ensure the Department has a coherent plan to address their need to hire cyber professionals and fill those much needed positions. I would like to thank Ranking Member Clarke for all of her work on this important subject, I urge support for the bill.

Mr. McCAUL

Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I first want to commend the chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security and the ranking member, Ms. Jackson Lee, for their hard work and efforts in trying to secure the border, first and foremost, but also in achieving what has never been achieved before, and that is an authorization bill for Customs and Border Patrol. In the history of the Congress, this is the first time. It is very important, Mr. Speaker, that we do this. It is very important that we support our men and women in blue and in green, Customs and Border Patrol, for the hard work and dedication day in and day out in what some would say is a thankless job. What we are doing, what Chairwoman Miller and Ranking Member Jackson Lee have done, for the first time Congress has recognized them and validated them in their mission to secure the border that they do day in and day out. I need not go into details about the latest border crisis that we are suffering through. Certainly the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) knows as well as I do that this is a crisis that demands action, a call to action, and a solution from Congress. I believe that authorizing CBP is a first step, but it is also the first step toward this committee authorizing the entire Department of Homeland Security. It is my goal within the next year, for the first time in the history of Congress, to authorize the Department of Homeland Security. And shame on us, shame on Congress for never authorizing this Department. You don't think that impacts morale? You don't think it gives a misguided message from the Congress that we don't support them? I think, above all, what this bill does is it says: we support you; we support you in your job. These Border Patrol officers that I see down there, these agents, they get rocks thrown at them. They get shot at. They have to deal in harsh conditions and the heat. And the customs agents at the ports of entry, I can't think of--someone would say ``thankless,'' but I can't think of a more important job in terms of protecting the sovereignty of the United States and protecting our borders day in and day out from threats that come in. Mr. Speaker, if 60,000 children can just walk right across our border in the Rio Grande Valley sector, what does that say about our state of border security? What does that say? I met with the general of SOUTHCOM, General Kelly, and he told me: If they are coming in, what else is coming into the United States? That is why this bill is so important, that is why border security is so important. I pledge to my committee members and to this Congress that we are going to get this job done. This is the first step, the beginning and the first step to finally getting this job done. We can report back to the American people that we have finally once and for all secured the border of the United States of America. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3846, the United States Customs and Border Protection Authorization Act, and thank Chairwoman Miller for her hard work on this legislation. This measure would authorize U.S. Customs and Border Protection for the first time ever. It also provides greater transparency, accountability and oversight of the nation's largest law enforcement agency. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has an important mission of securing the homeland, while simultaneously ensuring the flow of legitimate trade and travel at our nation's borders. The Commissioner of CBP must oversee an agency that includes the Office of Field Operations, the U.S. Border Patrol, the Office of Air and Marine, and numerous other subcomponents responsible for a range of missions from acquiring and maintaining technology on the border, to conducting polygraph investigations to ensure new hires do not have derogatory backgrounds. As an agency with more than 44,000 Federal Law Enforcement Officers, it is absolutely essential that Congress authorize CBP, and other DHS components, on a routine basis. This past week marked the ten year anniversary of the release of the 9/11 Commission's recommendations to Congress. Among the most important incomplete recommendations was for Congress to create a single, principal point of oversight and review for homeland security. Unfortunately, the number of committees and subcommittees overseeing DHS has only increased since this recommendation was first offered, and has resulted in significant strains on DHS leadership, who are required to answer to multiple Committees that sometimes provide contradictory guidance. Authorizing the Department and its components like CBP, thus fulfilling our obligations as an authorizing committee, remains my top priority for this Committee. As Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, I can certainly attest that fractured jurisdiction over the Department of Homeland Security has limited Congress' ability to provide effective guidance to DHS. In the ten years since the Department was created, it has never had a comprehensive reauthorization. Similarly, components such as U.S. Customs and Border Protection, have never been authorized in statute since being transferred to the Department of Homeland Security in 2002, despite undergoing significant reorganizations in the nearly twelve years since the Department's establishment. Thus, I want to thank my colleagues, and especially Chairman Camp and the Committee on Ways and Means, for their collaboration in bringing this legislation to the Floor. This measure has strong bipartisan support, and includes more than 30 amendments offered by Committee members of both parties, during the subcommittee and full committee markups. As a result, this measure passed the Committee unanimously, which truly represents the cooperation we strive to achieve. I would like to thank Ranking Member Thompson for his work on this bill and the contributions of our Democratic Members. I urge my colleagues to support this bill, which will authorize U.S. Customs and Border Protection for the first time, and will provide greater transparency, accountability, and oversight over this important component.

Mr. McCAUL

Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3202, the Essential Transportation Worker Identification Credential Assessment Act. This measure responds to a key recommendation made by the Government Accountability Office, to conduct a security assessment of the effectiveness of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC). The TWIC program is a joint-run program in the Department of Homeland Security between the U.S. Coast Guard and the Transportation Security Administration. The program, which is intended to provide secure access control, uses biometric credentials to limit access to secure areas of ports or vessels only to those individuals that actually need access. Unfortunately, the TWIC program remains incomplete, which has resulted in significant uncertainty for our nation's transportation and maritime industry. While regulations were in place beginning in 2007 for maritime workers to purchase the biometric credentials, regulations requiring the issuance of card readers remain incomplete, and have been significantly delayed. These delays come despite the issuance of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking more than a year ago to finally issue biometric readers. However, no final rule has been issued. The significant program delays have resulted in maritime workers having to pay to renew their credentials after five years, despite no biometric readers being required within that timeframe. These delays, coupled with a scathing GAO recommendation calling into question the underlying security value of the TWIC program, raise very serious questions about the future of this program. It is therefore important that Congress pass this legislation, which is responsive to the GAO's most recent recommendation on the program: an independent security assessment of the TWIC program. It is my hope that the Congress will observe the findings of this assessment, and consider reforming this program, if necessary. I thank the Chair and Ranking Member of the Border and Maritime Security Subcommittee, Mrs. Miller of Michigan and Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas, for their important oversight and legislative work on this issue.