Bennie Thompson

I continue to reserve the balance of my time. Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Chairman, I have no further requests for time. I am prepared to close if the gentleman from Mississippi is prepared to close. I reserve the balance of my time.

I have no additional requests for time, so I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hurd), a member of the Homeland Security Committee.

The Federal Government's failure to implement appropriate policies and build the robust governance infrastructure necessary to tackle biological threats came to a head last fall.

Unfortunately, the Federal Government has been slow to respond.

What is concerning is that in the absence of required procedures to check the feasibility of these programs, GAO reports that six DHS acquisitions have spent $5 billion to date.

But I think what the gentlelady is asking for is a balance.

But I am just trying to say, again, the report was incomplete.

Well, and the point I am trying to make is we get an Inspector General's report that would lead you to believe that only Democrats contacted on behalf of this job creation program.

It is illegal to lie or make misrepresentation to Congress, whether you are sworn in or not.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Well, I am not asking you to review the program. But in your review, I would think if you had run across a Senator's letter or a Representative's letter on these particular projects, you would have included them in your report.

I think if your report is going to really have credence and not impugn the integrity of Mr. Mayorkas...

I think every Member of this committee would want to know if he did something wrong or if he did something that wasn't in accordance to the law--not policy, the law.

This man has a substantial career, and one that I think should go and give him a little more deference.

Mr. Chairman, I want to remind you that just 2 days ago in this hearing room former Speaker Gingrich urged us as Members of Congress to stop being obstructionists and work together, especially in the interest of security.

So, Mr. Fletcher, can you share with the committee what orientation TSOs are going through now so that they do feel empowered that, when those situations exist, they can, in effect, stop it at that point?

So, basically, we let a domestic terrorist get on a plane that, if that person had applied through PreCheck, that person would have--well, if that person who traveled had applied through the regular PreCheck program, what would that…

I support the PreCheck program, too, but I want it to have sound science behind it and not just the ability to look at somebody who hasn't been vetted.

As a frequent flyer, I have long believed that TSA should have a trusted traveler program where individuals identified as low-risk travelers are provided expedited airport security screening.

I have no confidence, based on the public and Classified information I have seen, that this is the case.

I appreciate the subcommittee's willingness to take a hard look at the security vulnerabilities associated with how the Transportation Security Administration is administering the PreCheck program.

I will be introducing legislation to address these known vulnerabilities regarding expedited screening.

Today there are 1 million known low-risk travelers in the PreCheck program. That is a good start.

Former TSA Administrator John Pistole deserves great credit for recognizing the potential of a trusted traveler program and integrating the PreCheck program into TSA's risk-based airport screening operations.

I think we are in agreement that this should be dealt with as a National issue, not a partisan issue.