Department Of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2008--Continued

Floor Speech

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008--Continued -- (House of Representatives - June 14, 2007)

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Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina, and I thank the ranking member. I agree with the ranking member's assessment that we can improve the training and the, if you will, work performance in many instances of the TSA screeners. But we also note that there are many hardworking screeners.

I chair the subcommittee that oversees the work of TSA as it relates to airport screeners. And the reason the authorizers wanted to not have a cap is because, first of all, the Transportation Security Administration and the screeners staffing are engaging in what we call a spot program. They're dealing with the traveler document checking system. New programs need new personnel, new trained personnel.

The cap was lifted in the 9/11 bill for a very important reason. It sends the wrong message for us to cap screeners of airports. Our airports are expanding. Air travel is growing. In fact, we have been looking at the utilization of screening employees in the airport to make the entire airport, front and back, safe. So we all can work toward more professional development for the screeners, the airport screeners; but our work is too important now, and our work is too important going forward, after 9/11, to send this message of capping these employees.

I would respectfully oppose the amendment because of the work that we still have to do in securing the Nation's airports.

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Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Chairman, might I add my appreciation for the manner in which the chairman has conducted this process with the appropriations of the Homeland Security Appropriations Committee.

Let me thank the ranking member of the committee and the chairman of the subcommittee for working with the authorizers. And let me thank my chairman, Chairman Thompson of the full committee, the Homeland Security Committee, for creating the committee which I Chair, the Transportation, Security and Critical Infrastructure.

This amendment speaks directly to the immediacy of our concerns about pipeline security, refineries and other critical infrastructure.

A CRS report indicates that there are now nearly half a million miles of oil and gas transmission pipelines across America. We got a wake-up call just a few weeks ago with the discovery of a possible plot to blow up the fuel lines at John F. Kennedy Airport. Now we understand that we have a dilemma, and that dilemma requires the Department of Homeland Security to consider assessing the vulnerability of pipelines, refineries and other critical infrastructure around America.

Natural gas, gasoline, petroleum and other pipelines can produce catastrophic fires and explosions when they fall, and it is imperative that we begin to assess the vulnerabilities of such.

A weekly bulletin from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and FBI told law enforcement officials and businesses this week that the Independence Day holiday might make an attack more appealing.

This was an article in 2005. The bulletin said important economic infrastructure like refineries are possible targets for terrorists.

We need to assess the vulnerabilities of our refineries and pipelines.

Another article said, apparently some international terrorists have targeted our oil refining assets in the United States as potential targets. FBI Director Mueller said between 1999 and 2001, the FBI prevented 10 possible domestic terrorist incidents, including two potentially large scale, high casualty attacks by right wing groups, and the planned bombing of a trans-Alaska pipeline in 1999. Our pipelines are on the front lines of terrorists.

A New York Post article said for years, city residents have questioned the safety of the 40 year old artery that pumps jet fuel, heating and diesel oil and gasoline into the city, and some have even cited the pipeline as a potential terrorist attack.

We saw what happened when this allegation of terrorism that is still being investigated was uncovered regarding the John F. Kennedy pipeline. We have to get in front of this. We have to be preventive. Our committee will go forward having oversight hearings on these important questions. But it is important for the Department of Homeland Security to adhere to its directive and to recognize that the responsibility of security of pipelines and critical infrastructure remains in the Department of Homeland Security.

It is interesting as to whether or not beyond the question of impacting our security and our lives, that this damage to critical infrastructure can generate increased oil prices, something that many Americans are now saying, enough is enough.

I would ask my colleagues to recognize that our responsibility, the Homeland Security Appropriations Committee that has put together a very inclusive appropriations bill, to answer the questions of the needs of America's homeland security. But we also have to recognize that we have to be diligent, we have to be vigilant, and we have to make sure that we are in front of the ideas, the threats, of those perpetrators who would want to do us harm.

The half a million miles of pipelines, the many, many refineries, speaks loudly and volumes to the necessity of creating a vulnerability assessment of those pipelines and refineries and other critical infrastructure around the United States.

I would ask that my colleagues support this amendment, and I would ask additionally that the Department of Homeland Security have as one of its chief responsibilities the vulnerability assessment of these critical infrastructure sites.

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

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Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I am absolutely delighted. It means America will be safer.

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I thank the Chair for this opportunity to explain my amendment to H.R. 2638, the ``Homeland Security Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year of 2008.'' As a member of the Homeland Security Committee and the chair of the Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection Subcommittee, I am pleased to offer this amendment, which enhances the bill by requiring the Department of Homeland Security to conduct a security vulnerability study of the Nation's pipelines and refineries.

Less than two weeks ago, four would-be terrorists were arrested for hatching a plot to blow up John F. Kennedy Airport and swaths of Queens by attacking fuel tanks and an underground pipeline in the hope of igniting a catastrophic explosion that would surpass the horrific devastation visited upon the Nation on September 11.

Because of their length, ubiquity, and remoteness, pipelines can be nearly impossible to defend. Natural gas, gasoline, petroleum, and other pipelines can produce catastrophic fires and explosions when they fail. ``Environmental'' damage aside, these events can kill and injure people, and the casualties can be worse when pipelines are located near populated areas.

We need to ensure that everything that can be done to secure the Nation's pipelines and refineries is being done. There may be, of course, other actions that pipeline and refinery operators can and must do to reduce the threats terrorists could present.

My aim of my amendment is to increase the knowledge base pertaining to potential vulnerabilities of a critically important segment of the Nation's economic infrastructure so that effective countermeasures can be taken to protect the public health, safety, and welfare.

For these reasons, I urge the adoption of this amendment.

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Mr. Chairman, I am very happy to yield back the balance of my time.

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