In 1979 cspan was created as a Public Service by americas Television Companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. Homeland security secretary john kelly defended President Trumps propose dollars cuts for his agency. Secretary kelly appeared before a House Appropriations subcommittee and testified that state and local governments are more prepared to deal with terrorism efforts without federal funding. This hearing is about 90 minutes. Ail right. Todays hearing is called to order. Welcome to the subcommittees first hearing on the department of homeland securities fiscal year 2018 president ial budget request. Id like to extend a special welcome to todays witness secretary john kelly. Mr. Secretary, we are very pleased you answered the president s call to lead dhs. Having someone with your credentials to lead this demt will strengthen it and enrich it. Its good to begin the fy 18 appropriation cycle despite its late start im confident this subcommittee will produce a bill that supports the departments mission, balances competing interests, and is affordable to the american taxpayers. Before i dive into the numbers, mr. Secretary, i have a couple pieces of advice. First, never loose focus on the departments highest priority to keep the nation safe and enforce the laws of the United States. With your reputation, i know you will do that. Second, stay in touch with me, with mrs. Roybalallard and let us know when you need help. Everyone on this subcommittee wants dhs to be successful meeting its physician u mission, besides failure is absolutely unacceptable. I know i speak for everyone when i promise we will always listen respectfully to your suggestions and advice and we will be reasonable and even handed in our responses. I, for one, am grateful the president directed you and the men and women of the dhs to focus on the departments Law Enforcement missions. Im frooe tremendously pleased cash and release is a relic of the past and, as a result, illegal crossings on the border are 60 lower 64 lower than in april the same time last year. This is proof that the threat of enforcing the nations immigration laws is a forceful deterrent. Im also satisfied with the 1. 5 billion Border Security package included in the fy 17 omnibus bill. Simply enacting legislation that supports enmanced Border Security and i tier yore enforcement sends a powerful message to human traffickers and drug runners that business as usual on the border is over. If you break our nations laws and cross the border illegally, you will suffer the consequences which is a guaranteed stay in detention. Fy 18 requests continue, the fy 18 requests to continue the administrations emphasis on Law Enforcement and thats important. The total discretionary funds requested is 44. 06 billion, which is increased 1. 66 billion over last year. Items im pleased to see you included are the 2. 6 billion for Border Security which includes 74 miles of physical barriers along the southwest borderer and significant surveillance and technology and aviation system. 4. 9 billion for removal bragss inclusing 3. 6 billion of the 51,379 detention beds, increase of 12,055 above the numbers provided in fiscal year 2017, as well as additional funding necessary to actively enforce the nations immigration laws. Substantial increases are proposed for additional Law Enforcement agents at Border Patrol and immigration customs enforcement. Though i support this initiative, this subcommittee will take a hard look at whether it will succeed. As im sure you know, attrition in both organizations has outpassed, outspaced hiring in the last two years despite congressional increases for incentive programs. Im not inclined to leave money on the table if dhs is unable to meet these highend goals. For the first time in many years, the United States secret Service Requests meets their requirements. I have concerns too. The cyber threat to the Nations Network and Critical Infrastructure grows daily, yet the budget for cybersecurity has not increased at all from your current level of funding. While theres funding for Border Security, there should also be corresponding increase for our ports of entry where the majority of all innocence, drugs and currencient our country. Physical barriers may stop Human Trafficking but our only one means of increasing Illegal Drugs and currency. Splashing funds from fema critical grants and Training Programs by 918 million is worse and shortsighted, especially for cities where they are targets of terrorism. Likewise, im surprise and disappointed that the administration chose to perpetuate the last administrations bad habit of proposing fees to increase for tsa and using it as an offset despite knowing increase is unlikely to become law because theres no authorization for that. While balancing all the competing priorities of dhs is an understandable challenge, our main concern about reliance on budget gimmicks and to cut Important National security programs. I hope fy 19 request will focus on the nations Homeland Security priorities and not rely on offsets that this subcommittee doesnt control. In conclusion, i want to restate my commitment to work with you and i also want to take a moment to commend the budget offices in every of every dhs component and at dhs headquarters. Executing under a cr, proposing and advocating for a budget amendment, and developing a new budget request over a twomonth period is a monumental undertaking. They deserve our thanks. I want you to know that im blessed to have lucille roybalallard as my Ranking Member. She and i dont always agree 100 on policy but our balance and thoughtful approach engenders collaboration which means a better bill for the men and women of dhs. For that, i want to thank her and recognize her for any remarks she wishes to make. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Good afternoon, mr. Secretary, and welcome to your first appearance before this subcommittee. Theres no doubt that you have a really hard job and, in my opinion, among the hardest in government. The department is still quite young and still maturing in institutional terms and it has a large and diverse set of components and missions. Some of those missions, as you well know, are extremely controversial. We will disagree about some policies and priorities as we did with your predecessor, in some cases well strongly disagree. We do, however, share the common goal of protecting our country and its values. My hope is that we will have the same constructive working relationship with you that we had with secretary johnson. The members of the subcommittee have the common goal of appropriately resourcing the department to protect and to serve our country. This includes supporting the men and women who make up your department, the vast majority of whom are fully dedicated to their work and are performing admirably. Immigration enforcement will be the biggest challenge that we will face in working together. I hope you understand that, in my view, the crux of this issue is not simply a matter of enforcing the law or not, it is a manner in which that enforcement is done. It is also a question of the incremental benefit to the nation of significant new investments in Border Security and Immigration Enforcement actions and capabilities. Each additional segment of physical barrier at the border and each initiative to hire more Immigration Enforcement officers comes potentially at the expense of things like state and local preparedness, cybersecurity, investments in the coast guard fleet, and a multitude of other priorities outside of our bill. So it isnt enough to simply ask whether an investment would improve Homeland Security, we must also ask what the incremental benefit is, what the down sooitds a sides are and wh tradeoffs are. We are out of step on the ground in this country. On your watch i know you see an aggressive posture as faithfully carrying out the laws currently on the books, but do you have discretion. And right now that suggests enforcement is upending the lives of millions of people, the vast majority of whom are valuable, contributing members of their communities. The vast majority of whom are guilty of no criminal acts. The vast majority of whom have been in this country for many years working jobs that others are unwilling to do. For example, ive had from growers from california, representatives from the hotel and Restaurant Industry tell me and other members of congress the devastating Economic Impact current enforcement policies will have and in some cases are already having on our state and national economy. These consequences are also a threat to National Security. The ultimate answer is for congress to enact comprehensive Immigration Reform that lays out a path to legal status and eventually if one meets all the criteria for eligibility, citizenship. Many of us desperately want that to happen. While it is up to congress to pass reform legislation, you, as secretary of Homeland Security, could play an Important Role in helping that to come about. I also want to encourage you to continue an effort that was begun by your predecessor that is very important to this subcommittee. Secretary johnson made a high priority of maturing the departments plan, budgeting, and acquisition processes, including working with us to establish a common appropriation structure. I hope that you will capitalize on his accomplishments by also making it your priority to further improve and institutional lies those processes. We have a lot to discuss this afternoon and i look forward to your testimony and your responses to our questions. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, ms. Roybalallard. I know recognize rodney free hinge high sen, the chairman of the full committee. Thank you. I also want to welcome the secretary here to the proegss committee. We look ford to your testimony and hearing your frank and candid views on in r many issues. All of us up here thank you for your Remarkable Service as a brain over 45 years and now as secretary of the Homeland Security, we appreciate all that you have done for our nation. Todays hearing is an important part of the oversight duties of this committee now that we have formally rereceived the administrations budget request, the committee will undertake a thorough analysis of it. We will go through 50e67 e each and every budget line, question every witness, and demand credible spending justifications and only then we will make our own determinations on the best use of tax dollars. We intend to put forward a complete set of Appropriations Bills that adequately Fund Important programs while working to reduce and eliminate waste and duplication. Ill work with the Ranking Member lowey and chairman carter and ms. Roybalallard to move rapidly in the coming weeks and months to complete the fiscal year 2018 Appropriations Bills. Again, todays hearing is part of a process we follow to determine the best use of taxpayers dollars. After all, the power of the purse lies in this building. It is the constitutional duty of congress to make spending decisions on behalf of the people we represent at home. Some here on the committee may know that hundreds of families, almost 700 in new jersey and in my Congressional District lost loved ones on september length in those terrorists attack. Although it tookz years for the nation to recover, the events of that day made us rethink how we protect the nation and allowed us to learn from prior mistakes in order to prepare for and stop the next attack. Mr. Secretary, i wholeheartedly agree with your recent assessment that the risk afr terror attack on these United States, in your own words, is as threatening today as it was on that fateful day in september, in 2001. And unfortunately, this week we witnessed another horrific attack on our british allies and we extend our greatest sympathy to these young victims and their families. That is why we must be certain to continue to invest in critical programs like the federal Emergency Management agencys urban Area Security ni initiatives that ensure our communities which face the greatest risk are able to respond so ever growing and more complex threats. The fiscal year 2018 budget request propose a 25 cut to what we call uwasi and im eager to here how your department will continue to ensure the necessary resilience while absorbing such a large deduction. In large of the recent spike of antisemitic crimes which were directed at hundred of jewish schools and synagogues and terms of and Community Centers in the United States including those in my direstrict, we must continue ton Grant Funding to this program which provides atrisk Nonprofit Institutions of all faiths, critical assistance to bolster their physical security. And lastly id like to give a shout out to one of your most important urban search and rescue teams, including new jerseys Task Force One which became a federally designated team this time last year. New jersey Task Force One which was the first team to respond to the tragedy at the World Trade Center on 9 11 was activated and responded to also to Hurricane Matthew in october. These teams are essential to the entire nation. In conclusion i welcome you and i thank the chairman for the time and yield back. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I now recognize ms. Lowey, the Ranking Member of the full committee. Thank you. And id like to thank chairman carter and Ranking Member roybalallard for holding this hearing. And, of course, its always a pleasure for me to appear with chairman frelinghuysen who say distinguished chair of the full committee. Secretary kelly, welcome and thank you for joining us. The department of Homeland Securitys mission is to secure our nation from consistent threat. Its not an easy one. It is underscored by the tragic attack in manchester earlier this week. To keep us safe, different agencies within the department of Homeland Security must effectively coordinate and cooperate while also working closely with other federal, state, and local agencies. The budget request, unfortunately, does not fully reflect the grave character of the threats we face. In new york and many other states, preparedness grants are the difference between being able to prevent, mitigate, respond to, and recover from acts of terrorism or not. Secretary kelly, put simply, your Budget Proposal would make communities like those in my district and region less safe. The state Homeland SecurityGrant Program which enhances local Law Enforcements ability to prevent and respond to acts of terrorism would be reduced by 118 million or over 25 , reduced at this time of the absolute need for response as quickly as possible. That results in a nearly 20 million reduction for my home state of new york alone. The urban Area Security initiative which, as you know, assists highthreat, highdensity urban areas arguably the most vulnerable would be cut by 26 or 156 million. That is a nearly 45 million cut for new york. Maybe the people who put this budget together are not really watching the news that we all were watching just this week. The emergency food and Shelter Program is eliminated as is the flood hazard mapping and risk analysis program. State and local jurisdictions cannot effectively plan for the worst when support from their federal partner is inconsistent or insufficient. In addition to terror threats were , we know that the severity and cost of natural disafter theers are increasing and mitigation efforts can reduce taxpayer support in response to a disaster. We cannot expect communities to realistically prepare for natural disasters with proposed cuts of 55 million to the predisaster mitigation program. As i said, while negotiating the fq 17 omnibus, i cannot support a single cent, let alone 1. 6 billion for a boondoggle of a wall. Its an unjustified request based on a Campaign Promise and simply cannot be taken seriously by this committee. President trumps budget requests slashing 54 billion from nondefense investment would decimate the department of Homeland Security. In fact, even existing sequestration level caps are insufficient and would lead to reduced services that American Families and communities n