being present the subcommittee will come to order today we are meeting to consider the following three bills h r seven hundred twenty six the border security search accountability act of two thousand and nine h r thirty two thirty nine a bill to require the secretary of homeland security in consultation with the secretary of state to submit a report on the effects of them or medi that initiative on the border security of the united states and for other purposes and h r fifteen seventeen a bill to allow certain u s customs and border protection employees to be converted to a permanent appointment in the competitive service i now recognize myself to make an opening statement today the subcommittee will consider a range of homeland security bills that will make positive policy changes within the homeland security the department of homeland security and assert our role as the committee of primary jurisdiction over d h s i introduced h r seven hundred twenty the bipartisan border security search and accountability act of two thousand and nine in the hundred tenth congress and again this congress the bill preserves the department of homeland security's broad authority to search individuals and their belongings at our borders while setting standards to protect travelers privacy in short the bill strikes the right balance i believe between security and civil liberties by requiring t h s to encourage the american public and undertake an open rule making  process the second bill before us today is h r thirty two thirty nine which was introduced by representative kirkpatrick of arizona to focus attention on the border security implications of the many that initiative i'm pleased to be an original sponsor of this bill to require the secretary of homeland security to report to congress on the effects america initiative would have on enhancing border security reducing the potential for border violence and preventing  and bulk cash across the border between the united states and mexico consideration of this bill today marks the first time this committee will have the opportunity to consider legislation related to the critical one point three billion dollars program in which the department of homeland security plays a major role especially in relation to mexico i personally talked to secretary napolitano about my interest in conducting oversight of the medi that initiative and i thank the gentle lady from arizona for author in this legislation and for her leadership on the border issues i look forward to coming continuing to work with her on this and other homeland security issues the third and final bill we have before today's h r fifteen seventeen introduced by representative angle of new york and ranking member king h r fifteen seventeen would give the c b p commissioner the authority to convert approximately thirty five overseas employees into permanent civil service positions these employees were hired by the immigration and naturalization service under limited overseas appointment authority and the bill championed on this committee by ranking member king has bipartisan support additionally it is supported by c b p in the national treasury employees union which represents the employees in question one outstanding issue for this group is whether they will really require to rotate back to the u s after five years which is a general c b p policy however implementation of this policy on these employees could potentially have a very very disruptive impact on their lives as many have been decades at these foreign posts i want to highlight the fact that c b p has the discretion to waive the rotation policy and i strongly urge c b p to work with the state department employees and their representatives to find a mutually agreeable resolution and i understand those conversations are underway today this subcommittee will continue to monitor those discussions and is open to addressing the issue legislatively as this bill moves forward should it be necessary once again i thank you all for being here for today's markup before i conclude i would want to point out that h r seven hundred twenty six has the support of the national business travel association and h r fifteen seventeen has the support of the national treasury employees union without objection the respective letters and support of the bills will be inserted at the appropriate point in the record and now i want to recognize my ranking leadership i hope that this is the beginning of a strong legislative record for the subcommittee given our broad jurisdiction important oversight responsibilities are a number of important actions we can and should take up i look forward to working with the chair to consider legislation in a number of additional border and maritime security areas the three bills we're marking up today are very diverse h r seventeen twenty six introduced by the subcommittee chair is precedent setting in that it requires a rule making process for a specific type of border searches dealing with electronics i want to thank the chairwoman for working with the minority and assuming these major amendments are in fact accepted would switch me from opposing to supporting the legislation i still have a number of concerns with the president and the and some of the substance of the bill that i hope we can work out between the subcommittee and full committee to ensure that we're passing legislation that will not hurt security let law enforcement authority or result in years of costly litigation is important to point out that neither the nor the full committee has held a hearing on the issue of border searches of electronic equipment and i want to stress how important i think it is that this happened before any further action takes place on the bill after today h r thirty two thirty nine offered by caught the congresswoman from arizona requires a report from v h s on how programs and funding on merit initiative are impacting border security i think it is critical that this committee stand volved in this vitally important merit a process in and sure that the funding is spent as intended benchmarks achieved and most importantly needed assistance is given to our foreign partners in the war on drugs i have two very simple amendments offered to this bill that i understand the gentle lady is aware of and will accept and lastly h r fifteen seventeen offered by congressman engel and ranking member king grants authority to customs and border protection to fix a hiring misclassification to ensure that c b p officers stationed abroad at preclear s'posed or able to stay in these positions receive the appropriate benefits and retirement and other productions associated with being a trust and border protection officer stationed overseas i have additional thoughts on comments on these bills what i will wait to bring up to each bill was called jim thank you for holding this mark up your back i think my my ranking member and colleague and i want to assure all of you on this committee i know that many of us have many bills that we believe would be within the jurisdiction of this bill that we have introduced and you know we haven't gotten to to marking some of them up in one of the reasons is where we're really trying to begin to define that jurisdiction that we want for this committee and these are bills that we believe can move forward actually move forward in the process without having to be referred and get bogged down in other committees so we're starting with baby steps and we're hoping that as time goes on and as you know we have a very very big floor issue with respect to so many other broader issues being being brought forward to the fore floor so we're trying to find what we can do that's effective and we can move forward  so it is a big day i think for subcommittee and i want to thank my ranking member for acknowledging that i would like to remind the subcommittee that other members may submit opening statements for the record and i now call up h r seven hundred twenty six the bill was circulated in advance and printed copies are available and without objection the readings are dispensed with hearing no objection so ordered agreement with the ranking member the subcommittee will use a roster for amendments during consideration of the measures  today and i will not object i would ask the chair to explain our agreement concerning amendments the subcommittee will take up amendments in the order listed on the amendment roster if a members not present to offer an amendment that is listed on the roster the chair will allow the member to offer the amendment when the member returns to the extent practical and not prohibited by the house or the committee rules and finally amendments that are not on the roster may be considered after there has been an opportunity for amendments on the roster to be offered to the extent practicable and not prohibited by the house or committee rules i thank the chair for explaining our agreement on procedure and i withdraw my reservation the committee will now consider amendments to the measure as listed on the roster i recognize my ranking member mr souter and the clerk will report the amendment amendment to h r seven hundred twenty six offered by mr souter of indiana to page two  twelve strike security i ask you to that there will be some suspend the reading of the memo thank you to the ranking member without objection the gentleman is recognized for five minutes explain his amendment this the bill employs a phrase border security search that is used throughout the bill and will be confusing as there appears to be no functional distinction between a border security search and what is widely known as a border search department homeland security personnel have specifically requested that if this legislation goes forward it used the standard term border search to be consistent with existing guidance and case law changing the terminology could result in new litigation or border searches of electronic devices there also the concern that changing the terminology will be interpreted to mean that the border search authority is limited to security searches and not inclusive of the range of custom searches such as export controls and child pornography in short there's no justifiable reason to change the terminology after one hundred plus years of use i asked my colleagues to support this amendment and you're back and and i support the amendments as outlined to this bill with a caviar as the chair has ably pointed out the jurisdiction of this committee and the subcommittee is directed  to the border and is not directed towards the constitution and laws in elements relating to the constitutionality i do believe that there are serious constitutional issues  related to the content of material caught at the border everyone acknowledges that any country has a right to search the material coming in for contraband and the like but there is a serious constitutional issue as to content that is not the focus of this bill nor should it be this bill sort of regularize is the search and therefore is is a positive step forward and i support it i would note that the judiciary committee that has jurisdiction over the constitutional issues has jurisdiction of a bill that's that relates to those issues and i thought it was important to make the distinction at this point i hope that the judiciary committee will take up in a bipartisan way the issue of the content issues at a later date i do recall our colleague mr wolf complaining very bitterly on i think properly  about the chinese authorities looking into the content of of electronics that he brought into that country and it's really the same issue as to you know what kind of rule are we going to have in free speech and the like but properly that is not the purpose of this bill and so i do support the amendments the bill and i credit you madam chairwoman for stepping forward into the breach while the other issue was pursued in the other committee and i would yield back with those opposed say no in the opinion of the chair the ayes have it and the amendment is agreed to mr souter is my turn to move us something again i have the gentleman is recognized for five minutes to explain his amendment first asking as consent of the modified texas i remember thirty two negotiate with the journey advanced b the version called up by the clerk and asking as thirty two thirty three thirty four be considered and walked without objection sort of this tree of amendments establishes important exemptions from any special privilege or process included in the rule developed under this bill the exemptions will cover anyone on the terrorist watch list listed in the national sex offender registry and anyone with an active want or warrants from a u s law enforcement agency according to the legislation the rule must include special processes for obtaining information from electronic devices story such data the length of time it can be stored who has access to it in a special notification process if someone on the terrorist watch list sex offender registry or wanted by law enforcement it is important that they are not to have these special protections that may help them store sensitive security information on a laptop thumb drive or other electronics these amendments provide important national security and community safety protections it is essential that this bill not reduce authority or limit department of homeland security in force with options in order to detect terrorists or terrorist suspects we know that al qaeda is always looking for vulnerabilities in our systems i ask my colleagues to vote for these amendments to ensure that we are not creating a new vulnerability for terrorists to hide information plans and money from border officials in a similar vein we must make sure that this legislation does not create loopholes that would allow pedophiles to exploit technology to hide images of exploited children or allow criminals to avoid detection by law enforcement support for these amendments and you'll back  i think the ranking member and i now recognize michele a jackson lee for five minutes to cover the four amendments that the ranking member has put forward thank you very much madam chair and thank you for your leadership as well in particular i want to thank you for the modifications i was going to offer a perfecting amendment on mr number thirty six that captured the need for clarification that this had to be a definitive amount of time i believe that  not as amendment has merit but the perfecting language that we now have narrowly pale as mrs souders amendment to only those cases where the lack of cooperation from an individual was going a laptop a wireless device search at the border actually hampers d h s ability to investigate pacifically the language that we've now added would allow the secretary of homeland security retain electronic devices longer than the period set by the secretary under the section only when an individual fuse to give his or her passwords or other assistance with the leadership of this khamenei we have further been able to modify it by suggesting that the individuals be confirmed terrorists and this speaks to the issue of providing clarification only individuals confirmed to be a terrorist on the terrorist watch list of prohibited exempt from the protections in this bill the shortcomings of the terrorist watch list a well documented so we must not victimize travelers who have the bad luck of sharing a name with a suspected terrorist in our erroneously identified against the list by withholding the privacy and civil liberties protections afforded under this bill we've gone through this before and i think this is a important balance to this amendment and with that in support of the other amendments dealing with sex  offenders i've worked with mr souder we've discussed this issue in the past and i believe it's important to note that sex offenders are criminals and it is a challenge that we have responsibility to protect our homeland and this is an important amendment in addition to the last amendment number thirty three which clarifies the construction regarding once and warrants and i this is an important addition to this legislation objection so ordered a hearing no further discussion the question is on the green to the four amendments or the amendments and block those in favor say aye those opposed say no in the opinion of the chair the eyes have it and the amendments are agreed to the question now curse on the adoption of h r seven hundred twenty six as amended those in favor say aye aye aye those opposed say no in the opinion of the chair or the eyes have it and the adoption of the bill as amended is agreed to the question now occurs on fourteen h r seven hundred twenty six is amended to the full committee with the recommendation that it be adopted those in favor say aye those opposed say no in the opinion of the chair the i have in the bill as amended is forward forwarded to the full committee with a recommendation that it be adopted and without objection staff is authorized to make any technical and come forming changes before we consider a chart thirty two thirty nine the chair will not recognize original co sponsor of that bill the gentlewoman from arizona ms kirkpatrick for five minutes to make a statement madam chairwoman as you know we are facing a number of challenges at america's borders one of our greatest threats is the illicit flow of people drugs weapons and bulk cash which feeds the cartel violence in mexico sadly drug related violence in mexico has soared to historic levels with murders doubling in the last two years as this problem has worsened cartel related crime has spread across  border throughout the southwest particularly in my home state of arizona where we are currently facing the highest levels of kidnapping and kidnapping and identity theft in the world and struggling with increased levels of other forms of crime the narita initiative a one point four billion multi year multinational proposal was developed to combat this rising trafficking and organized crime the initiative presents an unprecedented opportunity to enhance existing border security activities it also acknowledges that regional security is a shared responsibility between countries agencies state  municipal governments on both sides of the border therefore it is critical that u s government take steps to maximize effective inner agency coordination of the middy a initiative which is led by the state department my bill h h r thirty two thirty nine requires the department of homeland security to report to congress on the impact of the middy that initiative on enhancing border security reducing the potential for border violence and preventing the flow of weapons and bulk cash in the united states and mexico i introduced this legislation to both monitor and highlight d h s contributions to an integral role in the media netty that initiative as the federal agency with the largest presence and us mexico border d h s plays a significant role in the implementation of the mideast initiative by building on existing relationships with mexicans central america and caribbean law enforcement agencies so maybe that initiative also benefits from d h s a unique expertise ranging from customs and border protection is experience with non intrusive inspection in quip it immigration and customs enforcement training a vet and units on contraband in interdiction and the coast guard's maritime surveillance operations with d h as his role in mind h r thirty two thirty nine recognizes that the house homeland security committee could be a central part of the legislative process regarding the navy that initiative in acting h r thirty two thirty nine would provide congress with a useful tool to gauge the effectiveness of border security active activities under the middy the initiative while acknowledging the proper role of the department of homeland security and this committee in those efforts i understand that the ranking member will be offering a pair of amendments via this is already a strong bill these amendments improve its effectiveness at providing oversight of the department's efforts in executing its role under this program i hope that these changes that with these changes he will join me as a sponsor of this legislation i think chairwoman sanchez and ranking member souter for bringing this legislation before the subcommittee today and urge my colleagues to give it their support i yield back the rest of my time i now recognize mr mcallen kidnapped from fort hood he was stationed at fort hood was kidnapped in mexico asked for one hundred thousand dollars in ransom money and withdraw all u s troops from mexican border so the timing of this is very important i remember last congress introducing with congressman quire an amendment to add funding for this purpose to work with mexico encounter narcotics against the drug that he is at war with the drug cartels has made a courageous effort to combat these drug cartels who are killing almost a daily basis and importing exporting drugs into this country the emphasis on this report also in terms of the cash and guns going outbound into mexico's violent port as well and i think this will serve the committee extremely well to have this kind of reporting from the for his suggestions on drug trafficking thank you generally for raising it and know this is in our jurisdiction hopefully we can sound i am tremendously frustrated as everybody else how slow the process has been to getting the money to mexico they needed it yesterday and we're still dragging this along so hopefully this will move ahead you i thank both the my ranking member and the gentleman from texas and i now call up h r thirty two thirty nine and h r fifteen seventeen the bills were circulated in advance you know my permit before you introduced i'll recognize the gentleman from new jersey five minutes thank you just very briefly madam chair this is something we've been talking about for many years and one thing that disturbs me in this bill and i want to thank the sponsors i've done a great job is that we have to wait eighteen months for a report and i i i think that we've been left in the dark  about how many weapons are moving across the border for so long in fact as a policy of the united states not to intrude direct not to confiscate any weapons in the past there's actually a policy that we were mainly concerned about those folks coming into the country illegally and we should be concerned about that we should also be concerned about the number and the volume of weapons manufactured in the united states of america that are going across the border into mexico and beyond and be d and that we have we do not have a plethora of information about this issue fact we have very relatively no information about what's going on committee we also have committee to the floor for example so there's a possibility in talking to our ranking member and others that maybe that time period could be shortened but this is the least certain that we will receive a report i get it is through the committee deserves to know what's been happening last year and beyond as the one weapons did get into our hands that we knew were going across the border what are their makes where they coming from these are information this information we need to know what was the source of these weapons will just gentleman yield absolutely i actually agree and i commend you for finding this little side a technical issue it's a very major issue and that is eighteen months eighteen months seems a long period of time for this kind of report i would ask that if the gentleman from new jersey would agree that by unanim consent we could change that reporting time period to six months i'd like the gentleman if you if the before you do that matt go ahead speak that my concern and because i totally agree but we're really kind of crossing two things here and i agree with both of them that our jurisdiction defined here is we're trying to do it is a merit initiative and i don't think they really have much money from it yet and if we're trying to measure the effectiveness of  the initiative then we need to see that the money gets there you're asking other questions related possibly not to this an initiative because if they don't have the money we can't measure the initiative well i want to get into the but i think we should all l as you know to get caught up in the bureaucracy because it's exactly where we're caught up right now i agree with the gentleman from texas that this is an immediate problem which we have turned our back on both sides of the aisle both sides the i'm up for anything is anyone right now and the only way to do is to drive you through time letting us know what the heck is going on first of all and then six months a year whatever we decide whatever the sponsors would agree with let's have a report and have a full blown review this is a this is a very dangerous situation my friends i brought it up several times i want to alaska sponsors what they willing to entertain that as the bill moves through the process really what i'd like to do is look at the feasibility of that if the resources are there to accelerate the time period that i think that's a very good suggestion but let's look into it i would urge the committee to pass it today as it is and then we'll continue to research whether there's a few it's feasible inadvertent that time period in answer to that mr patrick and then consulting with mr souder i think that there are some technical changes that we could make maybe on the time but also as it applies to the medi that initiative we want to make sure we get this correct so i can say to the members of the committee that we will work on this particular issue as we move this forward to the committee level and i'm sure that we can come to that it be known that there's nobody on this committee who does not understand that we are very frustrated with not having the information not understand the not you know having the h s so involved in the metadata an issue given yet this committee having had really been bypassed in the whole effort of what is going on is just too important so i think we all understand that we need to enter ourselves in there that we have oversight with respect to this and that this report becomes very important and that is one of the reasons why we've we brought it up today for consideration so why don't we work on it if i can say to mr mcallen and to the author and to mr mann pascal and to my ranking member that will work on what language might be appropriate at this move forward to the full committee i'm sure miss jackson lee i five and i thank you let me thank the author of this legislation you have articulated your concerns since you come to the congress and i think they're very important concerns i sit on the foreign affairs committee as business mccall and recognize that they were good intentions with this legislation i think to the generating from arizona that in the course of going from the subcommittee to the full committee we might be able to do research as to whether or not monies have been flowing for sufficient amount of time some of us recollect that because it was in the last congress that there should be monies flowing and maybe that should be one of our criticisms as well the other is that all of us are champions of our communities and i'm certainly a champion of mine and will probably have some differing opinions from my good friends from texas that have a different perspective but it is well documented  that houston happens to be a lightning rod to pass growth for the gun running gun trafficking and i'm hoping that and i'm going to look at this legislation that we do try to  even though the policies names from foreign affairs and this sort of a perspective and we're doing it with homeland security we've got to find the source of the problem because guns can terrorize as someone would tell  me guns kill people don't but guns in the hands of people kill and that's what's happening with the violence on the border and if guns get in the hands of terrorists or if they come to come and able to utilize the guns that the cartels have we certainly have our weapons let's put that way we certainly have a problem so i think that this document lays the framework for many questions that many of us have and you know i just ask the question why can't we cut off in essence a couple neck off of the of the drug runners that find themselves with a great deal of comfort if you will in purchasing these major sophisticated weapons why can't we stop it in houston as it makes or any other town or city that that it becomes a lightning rod for this so i'm hoping in the report maybe we can discuss this as it makes its way that we have some focus points that are really sore points for the problem that you're confronting in arizona we confront it we're further away from the border  to support this particular legislation and would like to work with the gentle lady from arizona and yourself thank you both for your leadership on this legislation as it makes its way to the full committee and with that i yield back i thank the gentle lady perfect without objection then the reading to dispensed with and after consultation with the ranking member of the subcommittee and because of anticipated delays due to floor of votes without objection h r two hundred thirty two thirty nine is adopted by the subcommittee as amended by the amendment so the bill listed on the roster as modified and at the clerk's desk were appropriated and hearing no objection is so ordered without objection h r fifteen seventeen is adopted by the subcommittee and hearing no objection is so ordered the question now occurs on fourteen h r thirty two thirty nine as amended to the full committee with a recommendation that it be adopted those in favor say aye those opposed say no in the opinion of the chair the i have in the bill  amended is forwarded to the full committee with a recommendation that it be adopted without objection staff is off the authorized to make any technical and conforming changes the question now kurz on fourteen h r fifteen seventeen to the full committee with a recommendation that it be adopted those in favor say aye those opposed say no and in the pinion of this chair the eyes have it in the bill is forwarded to the full committee with a recommendation that it be adopted without objection staff is authorized to make any technical and conforming changes and the meeting is adjourned thank you