Preclearance Authorization Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MILLER from Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 998. Few issues actually have kept the CBP leadership busier over the last year than preclearance.

Failure to properly consult with stakeholders on preclearance expansion at Abu Dhabi caused a lot of consternation on Capitol Hill and certainly in the Homeland Security Committee last Congress.

This lack of appropriate congressional coordination and notification troubled many Members as well as the affected stakeholders, specifically, the airline industry.

We now hope that the Department will keep Congress fully abreast of future plans, especially in light of their recent announcement of the intention to expand preclearance to ten additional locations.

This bill, we believe, sets the groundwork for greater oversight and coordination on future preclearance operations.

I certainly want to thank Mr. Meehan from Pennsylvania, who was actually a former member on the Homeland Security Committee, who raised concerns with the Department of Homeland Security preclearance operations early in the Abu Dhabi agreement process.

His leadership has really been very, very important to the success of the legislation that we are considering today, Mr. Speaker.

Certainly we support preclearance where it makes sense as well as other CBP efforts to push out the border, if you will.

Preclearance has been an effective security screening and trade facilitation tool since the early 1950s, actually. Of course, since 9/11, the security value of these operations has only been heightened.

However, the mistakes of the Abu Dhabi agreement cannot be repeated. Expansion of preclearance must be done in such a way that it supports our security and does not disadvantage our domestic airlines.

This bill was very carefully crafted after several oversight hearings and numerous consultations with the Department, the airline industry, and Members from both parties. It is a bipartisan bill.

This bill sets the contours for future preclearance operations and incorporates a series of notifications and certifications, including a justification that outlines the Homeland Security benefit and impact to domestic staffing and wait times of any new preclearance operations.

As well, this bill requires that Congress be notified in the event that Department of Homeland Security modifies or changes an existing agreement at any one of the 17 existing preclearance locations.

Most importantly, we think, this bill makes very clear the Department of Homeland Security cannot establish new locations without conducting the due diligence that we in Congress expect.

Mr. Speaker, we need to balance security operations and economic impact here at home.

Finally, I would certainly like to thank Chairman Paul Ryan of the Ways and Means Committee and his staff for working to bring this important bill to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mrs. MILLER from Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I, too, want to again indicate that these are bipartisan bills, the Homeland Security Committee bills that are coming forward on the floor.

I really have appreciated the opportunity and look forward to continuing to work with my ranking member, Mr. Vela, shoulder to shoulder on so many of these important issues before our country today.

So, Mr. Speaker, I would once again urge my colleagues to support this very strong bipartisan piece of legislation.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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