David Weldon: “Mr. Chairman, this body passed a bill creating a large bureaucracy to protect our airline security, so the argument that…”

“Mr. Chairman, this body passed a bill creating a large bureaucracy to protect our airline security, so the argument that was just made, as far as I am concerned, is not really valid, particularly when you look at the fact that I do not create a new bureaucracy. I transfer the visa office to the Department of Homeland Security. What will happen if we do that? Well, some of the Department of State personnel will stay on in the new Department of Homeland Security, because they have been doing visa issues for years, and then the Department of Homeland Security will have to hire new people. The important thing they will do is they will hire people who are trained more like police officers, that have more security in mind. The people who are currently occupying these positions essentially are people who are interested in becoming diplomats. Is that the right thing? Do we want the people who screen who comes in to be people who really want to do diplomatic and economic policy? Finally, I want to say one important thing about the current supposed compromise. Under current law, the Justice Department under the Attorney General defines policy for visa issuance and the State Department carries it out. Under this supposed compromise, the Department of Homeland Security will define those policies and the State Department will carry it out. I do not really see the current language as going obviously far enough.”