McCaul's Border Security Bill Passes Committee

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The House Homeland Security Committee unanimously approved bipartisan legislation introduced by Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX 10) to compel the Department of Homeland Security to develop a strategy for gaining operational control of our borders in two years. H.R. 1417, the Border Security Results Act, requires DHS to utilize technology to gain situational awareness and to produce metrics to accurately gauge progress. The bill passed committee markup last week by unanimous vote. Next, the bill will go to the House floor.

"This is the next step in ensuring DHS finally produces a strategy to secure the border," said Chairman McCaul. "Once in place, the strategy and implementation plan will determine how we apply the resources we send to the border. This will reduce duplication, streamline our spending, and ensure we are only puttingtaxpayer dollars towards what works, with a clear goal in mind."

During Committee debate, Democrats attempted to amend the bill to appropriate $3 billion up front. Chairman McCaul led efforts to defeat the amendment.

"The problem all along is we've been throwing resources ad hoc without accountability," said Chairman McCaul. "This is the cart before the horse. It is premature at this point in time to know what that number is. I want to know what their strategy is first."

H.R. 1417 addresses only border security, and is independent of efforts to reform our immigration system. Regardless of what happens in the immigration debate, the goal of Chairman McCaul's bill is to ensure that border security is realized, and that we do not repeat the mistakes of 1986 when the promise of border security went unfulfilled.

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