The House on Tuesday passed several homeland security-related bills including one to assess the management structure at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and another requiring an annual report to Congress on the number of miles of land and maritime border that are under operational control.
The DHS Accountability Act of 2012 (H.R. 5913) establishes an independent advisory panel to assess the management structure and capabilities of DHS and make recommendations to Congress to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of DHS management. The bill, which passed by voice vote, was introduced by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight and Management.
“The simple fact is the Department of Homeland Security is dysfunctional and there are doubts it can carry out its core mission of protecting the homeland,” McCaul, who will become chairman of the full committee next year, said in a statement.
The House also passed by voice vote the Mandatory Operational Control Reporting and Performance Measures Act of 2012 (H.R. 6025), which requires DHS to submit an annual report on the number of miles of international land and maritime border that are under operational control by the department.
The bill was introduced by Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.), chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security, who said that in 2010 DHS stopped reporting on the number of miles of border it had under operational control. At last count, she said, 44 percent of the southwest border was under operational control and less than 2 percent of the northern border.
The House also passed several other measures, including the Medical Preparedness Allowable Use Act (H.R. 5997) that codifies the use of Urban Area Security Initiative and State Homeland Security Grant Program grants for enhancing medical preparedness to protect first responders, their families, and immediate victims from a chemical or biological event. The bill, which was approved by a 397 to 1 vote, ensures that medical preparedness activities remain allowable for these grants, Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, said in a statement.