Yet, from what I am reading, there doesn't seem to be any U.S. financial commitment to the building of this critical international border.

This is not a challenge. This is a crisis.

Unfortunately, U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Office of Field Operations continues to be understaffed at ports of entry based on the agency's own staffing model.

The only way that you build in reliability and predictability is to build in capacity.

I want to thank the Chair, and I am pleased to serve as Ranking Member today, particularly given the topic at hand, staffing and infrastructure at America's ports of entry.

That is a problem in terms of morale--morale and just the importance of that relative to recruitment of Officers.

The Honorable Brian Higgins, a Representative in Congress From the State of New York:

Congress has 2 responsibilities here: One is budgetary and the other is oversight.

I will focus my comments today on our Northern Border, since our border with Canada is often somewhat forgotten in these discussions.

Cross-border travel and the efficient flow of goods and people across the border are vital to the communities I am privileged to represent.

There was a hearing earlier today in Foreign Affairs where it was disclosed that in the past year ISIS has had their footprint reduced in both Iraq and Syria.

We must ensure our friends and allies halt government-sponsored ransom payments. Doing so will lead to fewer kidnappings while also depriving terrorists of a major revenue source.