OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Conference Report On H.R. 2892, Department Of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2010

Floor Speech

Date: Oct. 15, 2009
Location: Washington, D.C.
Issues: National Security Drugs Immigration

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Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak in support of the conference report on H.R. 2892, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act.

The funding provided in this package would help ensure the Department of Homeland Security, under the leadership of Secretary Janet Napolitano, will have the resources it needs to execute all its missions.

DHS has a lot to do, from deterring, detecting and responding to terrorism to rescuing wayward boaters, to pre-positioning disaster resources. H.R. 2892 gives DHS the $42.7 billion it needs to fulfill its mission.

With respect to border security, the bill makes significant new investments to enhance border security along the southern and northern borders. I am particularly pleased that the bill provides $72.6 million to increase personnel and provide new equipment in the Southwest Border Counterdrug Initiative, which dedicates resources to target the flow of guns and bulk cash that fuel border violence.

This bill also provides $1.5 billion to support targeted, smarter immigration enforcement. These funds will expand critical programs such as Securing the Communities, which identifies and removes the most dangerous and violent criminal aliens on our border.

I support the new resources the legislation appropriates to transportation security, including funds for air cargo and surface transportation security.

Chemical security is another area of critical infrastructure that garnered significant attention in this bill. It provides $100 million in funding to DHS to support the coordination and management of regulating high-risk chemical facilities and brings the size of the C-FATS regulatory staff to 250.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds, Madam Speaker.

Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Madam Speaker, in closing, I urge the passage of this important legislation because it makes the necessary investment in security and resilience to protect Americans from future threats and catastrophic incidents, natural or man-made.

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