Sheila Jackson Lee: “Allow me to thank the chairman for facilitating this bill to the floor and the support of our ranking member, Mr.…”

“Allow me to thank the chairman for facilitating this bill to the floor and the support of our ranking member, Mr. Rogers, for this legislation and the work that we do on the Committee on Homeland Security. Mr. Speaker, before I start, allow me to acknowledge, with my thoughts and prayers, the wounded officers and members of the Houston Police Department who were shot last evening in a senseless shooting. Four of the officers were shot in the attempt to render a drug warrant, and one was injured. I understand, of that group, there were several who are in critical condition. Thanks to the professional work of the Houston Police Department, two of the persons perpetrating this crime have been stopped, and I hope the families of the victim police officers take comfort in the knowledge that everyone in our community--and, yes, in our Nation--is praying for the speedy and complete recovery of each of the officers wounded, injured in this terrible tragedy. It is because of the importance of law enforcement in the communication with the Department of Homeland Security that I reintroduced H.R. 495 to require the Department of Homeland Security's Office for State and Local Law Enforcement to report annually on its activities. As we all know, after the September 11 terrorist attacks, our Nation learned that the inability of Federal, State, local, Tribal, and territorial partners to share information was a critical failure in our national security apparatus.…”