to authorize the hiring of staff and i now recognize myself to make an opening statement the outset i want to welcome back fourteen of our members and welcome eleven new republican members and six new the fourth congress when ranking member thompson and i will be working together and i believe we've always done it in a spirit of bipartisanship and in that regard i would like to thank congressman thompson and all the members of his staff for being so cooperate of during the transition period having been there myself i know it's not always that easy so i want to thank you for the courtesies of the last several months that very much appreciate that this has been one of the most bipartisan committees in the house because whatever individual philosophical differences we have we recognize that homeland security is national security and we share the common mission to keep our country safe when we do have  policy philosophical differences we've been able to come to an amicable amicable resolution and if we don't we express our differences in the cultural way because we know the extent of the threat that we face now the purpose of today's meeting is to adopt the oversight plan rules of the committee for the congress and a pro forma hiring resolution these documents i believe record reflect bipartisan agreement for the committee moving forward they're going to go she added between both sides and my understanding is that we have reached a full and complete agreement as we approach the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of september eleventh we are constantly reminded that terrorists do continue plotting to kill americans at home  abroad and one thing we've seen over the last several years that is that the measures that were put in place after september eleventh they continue continuing to the president have done an excellent job of preventing attacks from coming in from overseas  it would be very difficult starting not impossible very difficult for instance to al qaeda or any of its groups to orchestrate an event similar to september eleventh however as we have increased our defenses and our layers of defenses so to the enemy as just saying and so we've seen a concerted effort by al qaeda to actually radicalize within the community in the united states to try to recruit terrorists here within the united so i recall the attorney general eric holder has actually commented on the growing number of people in the muslim community have been radicalized over the last several years pointing out the more than fifty u s citizens have been indicted for terrorist related activity within the last two years and something which has really increased again over the last eighteen to twenty four months we've seen the times square bomber faisal shazad it was actually a american citizen we saw the fort hood a david headley in illinois we saw jihad jane seen individuals in minneapolis associated with the somali terrorist organization al shabaab including u s citizens who took part in show a side bombing operations the top priority for the committee to be to counter the serious and evolving terrorist threats facing our country to put our work in context and to give a focus and we're going to days ago a committee members we visited the national  intelligence community and law enforcement agencies the tools they need to identify and combat domestic radicalization to do what has to be done to achieve operational control of the border to oversee and follow the administration's plans for guantanamo detainees what we saw in december with the actually november with the insane yemen to improve cargo security on passenger planes and on cargo only planes strengthening our nation cyber security improving communications for nation's first responders ensuring that homeland security grants are effective and risk based strengthening our defenses against terrorists use of weapons of mass destruction also conducting oversight of the department of homeland security to assure that it is operating efficiently and cost effectively and i would like to know that yes a republican members did did meet with secretary napolitano and while we are going to be conducting oversight we also look forward to a constructive working relationship with her and her departments and also we intend to pass a comprehensive department of homeland security authorization bill to support the work of the committee to combat the terrorist threat we have made a series of changes to the structure of the committee this includes establishing a subcommittee on counterterrorism and intelligence and also creating a new office of counterterrorism at the full committee to provide the resources that the committee needs to counter this terrorist threat we will have seen yet subject matter experts with real world experience sign to the committee working with the committee these include a counterterrorism fellow was a senior of homeland security and a new security director was a career intelligence professional additionally during the next two years the committee well as its conducting sense of oversight of homeland security and policies will begin and our first committee hearing by hearing from secretary apologized and also and director michael leiter on the range of threats facing united states and in fact that's going to be a table set up for us to get an overview from the administration as to where they believe we are and the challenges that we face also next month the full committee and our subcommittee hole a series of hearings on the president's budget requests and early march the committee will begin examining the growing threat of radicalization to further conduct oversight of federal programs the committee will organize field hearings and site visits throughout the country top and so includes security along the southwest and northern borders local emergency preparedness efforts fusion centers and homeland security training facilities i look forward to working with all members of the committee to strengthen our country's defenses against terrorist attacks we will also continue as a priority the goal of accountable to and how important it was to consolidate more jurisdiction within our committee which should be really the main purpose of the main committee of jurisdiction and fortunately those changes are not been made in this congress the that is chairman when you know that we made extensive efforts we still hopeful that that will go on but spoke with the secretary napolitano yesterday and this is one of the areas where there is bipartisan agreement bipartisan criticism we have to find a way to consolidate jurisdiction and i look forward to working with you on this too i know it's up to us forward to getting getting the maro support that i try to give you for the last four years and also we have the assurances from secretary napolitano that she considers this to be the prince of committee to which the h s reports we have the support of the nine eleven commission we have the support of former secretary started off so i just to show you that i will do all i can to aggressively knows on january sixth the house passed house resolution twenty two which was a binding resolution cutting the operating budgets of member leadership and committee offices by five percent approximate thirty five million dollars annually after a private consultation with a ranking member thompson we intend to adjust the budget of the committee on homeland security for the majority and the minority to fully reflect and meet this budget reduction however we also intend to do more with less  committee will in no way be detracted deterred from its aggressive agenda to help keep on nation safe from future terrorist attacks i look forward to working with breaking member thompson as we have for now nine eleven has successfully been launched on u s soil since two thousand and one yet recent cases such as that started bombing attempts at times square last year and in spokane washington last week serve to remind us that they are individuals out there who will use violence and terror to try and undermine our freedoms the protection of this nation requires that neither the nor favor influence to commit is examination of the effectiveness of our government's homeland security efforts we must not only be willing to x y how and who but we must also be right read it to hear the answer every review must seek to reveal whether the department of homeland security and its federal and state partners are providing the homeland security that congress envisioned and the american people deserve but those of returning to the committee i do not need to tell you that does committed covers and it nor most range of oversight issues and one hundred eleventh congress alone we look at issues as diverse as aviation security cyber security emergency preparedness efforts for the disable the federal air marshal service the safety and security of federal buildings security breaches at the white house state dinner and the deepwater horizon oil spill the challenge for this committee comes when we try to translate our oversight findings into legislation is not due to a lack of won't we'll effort it is over homeland security the most difficult and important of all it's recommendation trouble to report that the new leadership has not been able to work through that fractured beals often bypassing bypassing the committee on homeland security altogether but just as importantly the failure to consolidate jurisdiction not only focuses d h asked to answer to over one hundred congressional committees but also denies d h s s a full partner in this body today we will consider three key committee documents the committee rules the committee has oversight plan and a committe staff and resolution appreciate the chamas willingness to work with us to resolve our questions and concerns about these documents and i'm pleased that we've been able to work in a bipartisan manner to reach a unanimous consent agreement i look forward to working with each and every one of you to help foster a more secure and resilient nation and i thank the ranking member and i'd like to remind the committee that consistent with  the committee's rules one hundred eleventh congress and previous practice other members may submit opening statements of the record statements may be submitted to the court within ten business days for adjournment today before we turn to pending business i'd like to officially introduce the new found all the taxes and mo brooks of alabama i am delighted that these members and now on the committee i would forward to working with them they have certainly already shown me the type of dedication is needed for a committee of welcome him to the committee and i'm sure he will talk to us about the congestion on the peace bridge in buffalo i look forward to hearing more about it jackie spear california is also a new member but she's also the ranking member of oversight investigations and management committees so we look forward to mysterious leadership rick richmond is from louisiana and he brings extensive legislative experience from louisiana state legislature in particular we look forward to his continued advocacy for his new  first term from the house he has experience in both the state senate and the state house and he will be joining us on the border and maritime subcommitte mr keating is joining the committee who's a former state senator and prosecutor from massachusetts and we look forward to his work and leadership on this committee also thank you very much thank you ranking member thompson as previously noted there are three organizational matters for the committee's consideration in consultation with the ranking member the committee rules been updated to reflect the rules adopted earlier this month by the full house of representatives and the oversight plan has been revised to address key homeland security priorities the third item is the committee hiring resolution after consultation with the ranking member there is the committee resolution one staff hiring resolution copies of these measures were circulated in advance and are available on the day s without objection the readings are dispensed with and the measures are open to amendment at any point oversight plan and staffing resolution between ranking member thompson and myself and internal policies regarding committee security and travel copies of these policies will be circulated to members later today  transportation security mr rogers of alabama was service chair and miss jackson lee will serve as ranking member for the subcommittee on counterterrorism and intelligence will be a freshman member on our side mr me in the service york service ranking member for the subcommittee on oversight investigation to management mr mccall the service chair this pair will serve as ranking member without objection i submit for the record the full list of members may access classified information i would ask that all members sign that document and provided to the committee court before leaving today i also would like to assure the new members of the committee that future hearings will not be as pro forma as this th will not be as boring they will not be as done by rote they will be much more informative they will be some debate back and forth the most important i think that will give all of us the belief that we are moving forward in helping to secure our homeland