House Passes DHS Bills with Minimal Debate

This has been the week for the House to consider a number of low-controversy bills for DHS. Two of the bills in particular have been ones that I have been commenting on in this blog:

HR 1646 – The Homeland Security Drone Assessment and Analysis Act

HR 2200 – The CBRN Intelligence and Information Sharing Act of 2015

Both of these bills were debated on Tuesday, but neither attracted much discussion. The debate on HR 1646 lasted a little over six minutes. The debate on HR 2200 only took nine minutes. There were 40 minutes allotted for the debate of each bill.

HR 1646 was passed on a voice vote on Tuesday. When it came to vote on HR 2200 a recorded vote was requested which delayed the proceedings until this morning. The House voted 420 to 2 to approve HR 2200. Both bills now head to the Senate where they are likely to be considered under the unanimous consent process, but there is no telling when that might happen. They could even  die a quiet death by being ignored by the Senate leadership.

Committee Hearings – Week of 06-21-15

Both the House and Senate will be in Washington this week and having a fairly normal hearing schedule. Only five hearings of potential specific interest to readers of this blog; two on the OPM hack, one cybersecurity markup, a hearing on vehicle-to-vehicle communications and the Senate version of the THUD spending bill.

OPM Hack

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will be holding part 2 of their hearing on the OPM hack on Wednesday. No witness list has been made available yet.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will look at the OPM hack and the larger issue of Federal cybersecurity on Thursday.

Vehicle-to- Vehicle Communications

On Thursday the Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee will be meeting on Thursday to look at “Vehicle to Vehicle Communications and Connected Roadways of the Future”.

Cybersecurity Markup

The Senate Homeland Security Committee will be holding a business meeting on Wednesday. One of the bills that they will be marking up in the Einstein Act (will probably be introduced today). Nothing certain yet, but it looks like it will probably deal with the Einstein cybersecurity programs being deployed across the Federal government.

FY 2016 THUD Spending Bill

The Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee will be holding a markup hearing on the FY 2015 THUD spending bill tomorrow. We did not see any crude oil train or chemical transportation safety measures in the original House bill (HR 2577) but some did make it in during the floor amendment process. We will have to wait and see what the Senate Appropriations Committee does with this bill.

On the Floor

We have a number of homeland security related bills coming to the floor of the House this week including two that I have been following in this blog; HR 2200 (CBRN Intel) and HR 1646 (Drone Assessment). I did a post yesterday on the committee report on HR 2200 and I am waiting for the GPO to publish the report on HR 1646. The bills are expected to come to the floor on Tuesday under suspension of the rules; so no amendments will be made.

HR 2200 Reported in House – CBRN Intel

Last week the House Homeland Security Committee report on HR 2200, the CBRN Intelligence and Information Sharing Act of 2015, was published. The amended version of the bill was also published.

The only ‘new’ information in the Committee Report is a mention about concerns about terrorist access to “CBRN materials, such as highly enriched liquid uranium” (pg 7). This does appear to slightly expand the non-biological concerns covered in the bill. There is still no mention of the potential threat posed by weaponization of readily available industrial chemicals.

Moving Forward

This bill is currently scheduled to be considered by the House on Tuesday. It will be considered under suspension of the rules, so there will be no possibility of the bill being amended on the floor. This also means that the Leadership considers that this bill will receive substantial bipartisan support.

Committee Hearings – Week of 5-17-15

Both the House and Senate will be in town this week before taking off next week for their Memorial Day break. Not much in the way of hearings this week of specific interest to readers of this blog; a couple of markups, an energy security hearing and the highway bill rule.

Energy Security

The Energy and Power Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee will be holding a hearing on a new bill addressing energy reliability and security on Tuesday. Among other things the bill includes EMP provisions, cybersecurity order provisions, and a new ‘Cyber Sense’ program.

The witness discussion will be wide ranging and probably superficial. It is still early in the game on this bill.

Legislation Markups

The House Homeland Security Committee will markup 11 bills on Wednesday. This will include HR 1646 and HR 2200. I covered the subcommittee markup of both of those bills last week. Both are apparently on the fast track to the House floor. The Homeland Security Committee version (HR 1738) of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Modernization bill will also be considered. The fate of this bill has yet to be determined by the House leadership.

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee will also meet on Wednesday to consider 13 bills. The one of note for readers of this blog is HR 710. Chances are looking good that Rep. Jackson-Lee (D,TX) may finally see her TWIC bill making it to the floor of the Senate.

Highway Bill

As I noted on Saturday the short term extension of the highway bill, HR 2353, has been introduced and the House Rules Committee will be meeting today to formulate the rule for its consideration. This bill is obviously being fast tracked so it will be on the President’s desk by Friday.

Floor of the House

In addition to HR 2353 the House will take up the 2016 Coast Guard authorization bill (HR 1987) this week under suspension of the rules. With no amendments being allowed under that process, this bill will go to the Senate without any new hazmat security or safety measures.

Subcommittee Amends and Adopts CBRN Intel Bill

Yesterday the Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications of the House Homeland Security Committee passed two amendments to HR 2200, the CBRN Intelligence and Information Sharing Act of 2015 by voice vote and then recommended the bill to the full Committee.

The first amendment was the substitute language from Chair McSally (R,AZ) that I described in an earlier post. The second amendment was offered by Rep. Payne (D,NJ), the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee. That amendment added local public health departments to the agencies to be notified of CBRN information developed by the Office of Intelligence and Analysis of the Department of Homeland Security.

As I mentioned earlier while this legislation is billed as chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear intelligence bill, it is clear that the main focus is actually biological attacks. I understand the concern with the consequences of a successful bio-attack it still takes a great deal of sophistication to execute an attack of this sort, much more sophistication than it takes to conduct an attack with industrial chemicals.

New Homeland Security Subcommittee Markup Hearing

Yesterday the Emergency Preparedness, Response and Communications Subcommittee of the House Homeland Security Committee announced that they would be holding a markup hearing on Thursday. Three bills will be reviewed, including HR 2200 that I reviewed this weekend.

The Chair, Rep. McSally (R,AZ) is offering an amendment in the form of a substitute that will form the version to be marked up. The change is administrative in nature; taking the congressional reporting requirements out of the new section 210g being added to  the Homeland Security Act of 2002. They will remain in the bill, but will not become part of the statute if this bill is adopted.

As I noted in my earlier post this bill appears to be slated for early movement to the House floor. We are likely to see it considered in a full committee hearing in the next week or so.

HR 2200 Introduced – CBRN Intelligence

A week ago Rep. McSally introduced HR 2200, the CBRN Intelligence and Information Sharing Act of 2015. The bill would require the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis (OIA) to take specific actions with regard to intelligence about chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats (CBRN).

The bill would add a new section to Subtitle A of title II of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 121 et seq.) entitled: “Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Intelligence and Information Sharing”. It would require the OIA to {new §210G(a)}:

∙ Support homeland security-focused intelligence analysis of terrorist actors, their claims, and their plans to conduct attacks involving chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear materials against the Nation;

∙ Support homeland security-focused intelligence analysis of global infectious disease, public health, food, agricultural, and veterinary issues;

∙ Support homeland security-focused risk analysis and risk assessments of the homeland security hazards described in paragraphs (1) and (2) by providing relevant quantitative and non-quantitative threat information;

∙ Leverage existing and emerging homeland security intelligence capabilities and structures to enhance prevention, protection, response, and recovery efforts with respect to a chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear attack; and

∙ Share information and provide tailored analytical support on these threats to State, local, and tribal authorities as well as other national biosecurity and biodefense stakeholders;

The bill also amends §201(d)(8) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 121(d)(8)) by adding tribal entities to the agencies to which the OIA disseminates information.

There are no provisions included in the bill for additional funding or manpower to support the requirements added by the bill.

Moving Forward

Rep. McSally is the Chair of the Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications of the House Homeland Security Committee. Her co-sponsors include Rep. McCaul (R,TX), the Committee Chair and Rep. Thompson (D,MS), the Ranking Member of the Committee. I suspect that this bill will move through the Committee relatively quickly and I see no issues that would raise any organized opposition on the floor of the House where it will probably be considered under suspension of the Rules. The bill would probably be picked up for consideration in the Senate under the unanimous consent process. This bill has a very good chance of getting to the President this year.

Commentary

While there is nothing here to draw any significant opposition, I do see one thing wrong with the bill. The information sharing requirements in §210G(a)(5) of the bill do not specifically mention sharing information with private sector entities beyond ‘other national biosecurity and biodefense stakeholders’. This reflects the Homeland Security Committee’s long held concern about bio-attacks well above any concerns about the other attack modes included in CBRN.

From my point of view it would seem that information about attack capabilities and intentions using industrial chemicals as WMD should be higher than legitimate concerns about bio-based WMD attacks. Industrial chemicals are much easier to obtain and weaponize than are bio-based weapons. But even if you take into account the black swan potential of a bio-based attack to rate that as a higher consequence concern, completely ignoring of the need to share the chemical, radiological and nuclear information required to be considered by this bill is very shortsighted.

Bills Introduced – 05-01-15

Forty-five bills were introduced in the House yesterday (the Senate was not in session). Three of those bills may be of specific interest to readers of this blog:

HR 2200 To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear intelligence and information sharing functions of the Office of Intelligence and Analysis of... Rep. McSally, Martha [R-AZ-2]

HR 2204 To clarify the authority of States and political subdivisions thereof to regulate liquefied petroleum gas rail transload facilities that are owned or operated by or on behalf of a rail carrier. Rep. McGovern, James P. [D-MA-2]

HR 2205 To protect financial information relating to consumers, to require notice of security breaches, and for other purposes. Rep. Neugebauer, Randy [R-TX-19]

HR 2200 will probably see action because McSally is chair of the subcommittee to which this bill will probably be assigned for consideration. As a military veteran she has expressed a personal interest in CBRN issues.

As pressures rise to require the reduction of crude oil volatility the handling of liquefied petroleum gas will become more of an issue. McGovern is not on the House Transportation Committee, however, so HR 2204 will probably not go anywhere.

HR 2205 is yet another breach notification bill. Neugebauer is a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee (one of two committees assigned to consider the bill) so there may be enough political will to get this bill to consideration.

Lame Duck Congress

While many pundits are focused on prognostication about the 112th Congress that will start in January, next week the 111th Congress will return to finish out the last month and a half of their term. The same people will be in charge and the same issues have to be addressed. The big difference is that many won’t be returning, so they won’t need to worry about what the voters think while others know that they will have more power to persevere in the next Congress. These two facts will color what can be done.

Chemical Security Legislation

The current CFATS authority expires on December 3rd. Congress will take some sort of action on legislation to continue that program. The most likely effort will be a one year extension in the DHS budget bill. If an actual budget doesn’t pass (a very real possibility if the Democrats try to stuff a budget bill with last minute attempts to add programs that won’t have a chance in the upcoming Republican controlled House) any continuing resolution will contain a CFATS extension for the length of the CR. I won’t be surprised to see a couple of short term continuing resolutions to give the 111th more time to pass their budget bill (probably a single, huge bill).

There are a number of bills that specifically address CFATS ranging from HR 2477 (which makes the current program permanent), thru HR 2868 (which slightly modifies and extends CFATS for three years), to S 2996 (which extends CFATS for five years). The only one that has any chance of passage is HR 2868 and I’ve discussed a number of possible scenarios that might result in passage in earlier blogs (most recently), but I won’t waste any money on betting on passage.

Adding chemical security requirements to water treatment facility security requirements is currently only addressed by one bill (the Senate version of HR 2868 removed the House provisions that included this), S 3598. The Senate has held only one hearing on this bill and the Environment and Public Works Committee is unlikely to report this bill. If it does, the Democrats are unlikely to be able to muster 60 votes (because of the current IST provisions in the bill) to force a vote on this bill. If it does get to a floor vote, it would almost certainly pass and could be taken up and passed in the House if the Senate vote comes early enough. Needless to say that Greenpeace is pushing for this bill to be passed.

Cyber Security Legislation

There were a number of cyber security bills introduced in the 111th Congress. None really specifically address control system security issues. Only one has come to a floor vote, HR 4061, and it passed easily. No action has been taken in the Senate on that bill, no hearings and no committee votes. While it is unlikely to come to a floor vote, it would probably pass. It could make it to the floor at the very end of the session if the leadership really wanted to get some sort of cyber security bill passed and nothing else worked. If there were no floor amendments, this bill would not need to go back to the House for further action.

S 3480 is the Senate bill that is best positioned to come to a floor vote. As I have mentioned on a number of occasions, we have been waiting for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s report on this bill since June. There is some opposition to some provisions of this bill so there would probably be a fairly extensive number of floor amendments that would be faced. This would make this a time consuming bill to pass, making it difficult in this short session. If the leadership on both sides of the aisle could agree to limit the amendment process this bill could probably pass, but not in enough time to make it through the House.

Other Legislation of Interest

HR 2200, the TSA authorization bill, has been ordered reported in the Senate (last year), so it could come to the Senate floor. New concerns about cargo screening, and passenger screening technology could lead to a large number of floor amendments, again making this a time consuming bill to pass. It would have to go back to the House, because of changes made in committee. That makes it more difficult to pass in the short session.

HR 4842, the DHS S&T authorization bill, passed in the House but has had no action taken in the Senate. This could be a sleeper bill that could slide through a floor vote in the Senate if the leadership decides to take it up.

Watch Them Closely

While many people have called the 111th a ‘do nothing’ Congress, there have actually been a significant number of things passed. We will probably see a large number of little noticed bills making their way quickly through the legislative process in the lame duck session. Most will be mainly non-controversial, but lots of stuff can get tacked onto these bills. The budget bill(s) will be particularly vulnerable to stuffing with a number of Congress Critters trying one last time to get their personal favorite idea into law. This session could get very loud and very ugly, but we’ll have to pay close attention to the quiet stuff.

Reader Comment – 06-24-09 – TWIC Availability

Earlier today Wally Magda left a comment about an earlier blog on background checks and TWIC. Apparently responding to my statement that: “If facilities were to get TWICs for each of their employees that had access to restricted or security areas, this would almost certainly fulfill the RBPS #12 requirements.”; Wally writes:

“Great TWIC can't be obtained in some states because there aren't any enrollment centers. One example is Colorado. I would have to travel quite a distance to get a TWIC processed.”

Wally brings up a very good point that I overlooked in my posting. TWIC could be used to fulfill the RBPS #12 background check ‘requirements’, but states removed from the coast or navigable waterways may find it difficult to get ready access to ‘enrollment centers’. TWIC was designed to provide identification for workers at port facilities, not all chemical facility workers. This means that the enrollment centers are more likely to be near those port facilities. Land-locked states like Colorado are less likely to need the services of such a center. This problem may be aggravated by a provision in Safe Trucker’s Act section of HR 2200. That provision, §432 would require DHS to write rules requiring trucker’s carrying ‘security sensitive materials’ to have TWIC. DHS would be required to start issuing these licenses by May 1st, 2010 so maybe they would have time to establish more enrollment centers in parts of the country that are currently underserved.

Reader Comments – 06-08-09 – HR 2200

This morning Anonymous posted a quick comment to last week’s posting on the passage of HR 2200. Anonymous wrote: “The bill will go to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. There is no Senate companion bill.” I would have thought that it would have gone to Lieberman’s committee, but Anonymous may be correct that since it is TSA it will go Commerce. It is hard to keep up with jurisdictional issues.

HR 2200 Full Committee Markup Scheduled

As I mentioned in last week’s blog on the subcommittee markup of HR 2200, the Transportation Security Administration Authorization Act, this bill certainly seems to be on the fast track. Introduced less than two weeks ago, it will undergo a full House Homeland Security Committee markup this week on May 14th at 10:00 a.m. EDT. Once that is completed it may take a couple of weeks to get the committee report submitted, but I expect that this bill will go to the floor right after the Memorial Day recess.

HR 2200 Mark-Up 05-06-07

Yesterday the Subcommittee on Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection of the House Homeland Security Committee held a mark-up hearing for HR 2200, the Transportation Security Administration Authorization Act. The bill was introduced last week by Rep. Jackson-Lee, the subcommittee chair. Four amendments were considered by the committee, two passed on roll-call votes without dissent, as did the amended bill. The other two amendments were withdrawn, pending further action. According to the opening statement of Chairwoman Jackson-Lee this bill is part of Chairman Thompson’s plan to pass authorizing legislation for the Department of Homeland Security. This would be the first time since the department was formed in 2002 that Congress had passed such legislation. According to Ms Jackson-Lee’s statement, an “authorization bill demonstrates a core constitutional function of Congress and lays important markers for the Executive Branch.” Given the extreme partisanship seen to date in the 111th Congress, it is a pleasant surprise to see a truly bipartisan bill working its way through the House. The ranking member, Mr. Dent (R, PA) is an original co-sponsor of the bill, along with Chairman Thompson. Throughout the hearing, members from both sides of the aisle remarked on the bipartisan nature of the support for this bill. And there was not a single ‘No’ vote on either roll-call vote during the hearing. Increasing Ground Transportation Focus The drafters of this bill are trying to change the focus of the TSA from primarily air transportation security to transportation security in general. One of the ways in which they have attempted to accomplish this refocusing effort is to establish a Surface Transportation Security Inspection Office. This will make the surface inspection force more cohesive and “ensure that inspectors are no longer diverted to aviation activities”. Additionally the bill would authorize an additional 300 Surface Transportation Security Inspectors and outlines how the inspection force would be organized. The Act would also establish a Surface Transportation Security Advisory Committee to “give them [surface transportation security stakeholders] a formal outlet for giving TSA feedback on security issues”. Additionally, the legislation would require the formation of the Passenger Rail And Public Transportation Security Working Group and the Freight Rail Security Working Group to address the specific needs of those stakeholder communities. Finally, the proposed bill would direct the DHS Secretary to explain why there has been no apparent action on the three training regulation requirements specified in the 9/11 Commission Act. As I noted in an earlier blog, that act required TSA to develop security training regulations for passenger rail, freight rail, and commercial bus transportation. The deadlines specified in the act for publication of those regulations all passed in 2008. Moving Forward The authorization bill issue is obviously important to Chairman Thompson, so I expect to see a full committee mark-up in the next couple of weeks. Ms Jackson-Lee promised Mr. Lungren (R, CA) that she would work with him on his withdrawn amendment on surface transportation screening procedures so that it would more completely address the concerns that he had identified in this area. They agreed that the revised amendment would be submitted as part of the whole committee mark-up.

Additional Homeland Security Committee Hearing This Week

Late Monday afternoon, the House Homeland Security Committee announced an additional hearing for this week, a hearing that may be of interest to the chemical security community. The Subcommittee on Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection will hold a markup hearing on HR 2200, a bill introduced last week by Rep. Jackson-Lee (D, TX). The title of the bill is the “Transportation Security Administration Authorization Act”. The hearing will be held tomorrow at 10:00 and will be web cast. The bulk of the bill deals with aircraft security measures, but there are three provisions that will probably affect the chemical industry. First, the bill {§301(d)} would require TSA to hire an additional 300 Surface Transportation Security Inspectors to handle a variety of inspections of ground based transportations systems including freight rail. Second, the bill {§1118(e)}would require a new Transportation Security Advisory Committee be established with a Freight Rail Security Working Group. Third, the bill will require the Secretary to report back within 30 days of passage of the bill about the status of a variety of transportation security training program regulations required by the 9-11 Commission Act of 2007. This bill appears to be on the fast track for action in the House Homeland Security Committee. The bill was introduced on April 30th and the GPO print of the bill was not posted until yesterday. The first sub-committee markup will held tomorrow. I would not be surprised to see the full committee markup scheduled for next week.