Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

As Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Senator Lieberman works hand in hand with Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Me., to enact needed legislation and to oversee laws the two have successfully enacted in the past. Among those laws are the implementing the 9/11 Commission recommendations, including restructuring the intelligence community; reinventing FEMA after its disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina; strengthening port, transportation, and chemical security; and working to obtain more resources for our first responders, the men and women who are on the frontlines of the war on terror at home.

Chairman Lieberman will continue to examine the phenomenon of homegrown terrorism and violent Islamist radicalization, which was brought into sharp relief by the 2009 shootings at Fort Hood. He is working on legislation to better coordinate the security of government and private sector cyber networks. He is monitoring the extreme violence along the southern border and has closely overseen the government’s efforts to prepare for and respond to pandemic diseases such as the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. He is also working to pass legislation to strengthen the security of laboratories that use dangerous pathogens and to improve the security of chemical plants and industries that use dangerous chemicals.

In the category of governmental affairs, the Senator has been working to provide domestic partner benefits to federal employees; to provide residents of the District of Columbia with a vote in Congress; and to ensure fairness in the federal employee retirement system. He was instrumental in the passage in 2008 of a number of reforms to streamline and add transparency to the federal procurement system and was instrumental in the reform of lobbying and ethics rules in 2007.

During his previous tenure as Chairman of the Committee, then known simply as the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, in 2001 and 2002, Chairman Lieberman was a leader in the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. He investigated corporate accountability after the Enron implosion and the Bush Administration's weakening of environmental regulations. He also authored and won enactment of the E-Government Act of 2002, which required the federal government to improve access to information and services over the Internet, and strengthened privacy protections.

For more information on Senator Lieberman's work on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, please visit their website.

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Homeland Security

Homeland Security. Chairman Lieberman has worked consistently to oversee the Department of Homeland Security since its creation in 2003 to ensure that first responders and preventers are provided with the resources they need to do their jobs and to instill an all-hazards approach that will enable the Department to respond to natural disasters as well as terrorist attacks. Among his achievements are implementation of the 9/11 Commission recommendations in two pieces of legislation enacted in 2004 and 2007; the reinvention of FEMA into an agency capable of preparing for and responding to a catastrophe on the level of Hurricane Katrina in 2006; oversight of the Department’s efforts to develop an architecture to prevent nuclear materials from passing through ports of entry; and protecting national security employees from unfair abuse.

In 2002, as Chairman of what was then known as the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, Senator Lieberman led the fight to create a new Department of Homeland Security. One month after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, he introduced legislation to reorganize the federal government to better protect the American people from terrorism and natural disasters and steered a bipartisan plan through his committee. After months of opposing the plan, the White House eventually endorsed the concept. Legislation that passed Congress in 2002 created a department incorporating key organizational elements Senator Lieberman advocated.

Since then, Senator Lieberman has been a forceful advocate for additional funding above the President's annual budget requests for training of first responders, supplying additional equipment, protecting critical infrastructure, improving bioterrorism preparedness, and increasing port and transportation security. In 2001, the Senator co-sponsored legislation to establish the 9/11 Commission to determine how terrorists could have attacked our nation on September 11, 2001.

Violent Islamist Extremism. Since 2006, the Committee has investigated homegrown terror and violent Islamist radicalization, holding a series of hearings and producing a report on the role of the Internet in radicalization. Chairman Lieberman has examined the capabilities of terrorist groups to grow and organize inside the U.S., including their use of the Internet to broadcast their hateful message and indoctrinate disaffected youth. He has looked at the federal government's coordinated efforts to reach out to the Muslim community to promote a peaceful message, at how European countries have dealt with the problem, and policies implemented by law enforcers in New York and Los Angeles. In 2009, 12 actual homegrown incidents, plots, or cases of related terror activities were made known, most notably the attack on Fort Hood. After the attack, Senator Lieberman ordered an investigation into the federal government’s conduct surrounding the accused shooter and what needs to occur to prevent a similar incident in the future. The thwarted cases of homegrown attacks indicate that coordination between the FBI and local law enforcement officials has led to some success. But the successful attacks – such as the failure of Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab to detonate explosives on a Christmas Day flight – indicate that reforms put into place since the September 11 attacks may need some adjusting.

Cyber Security. Senator Lieberman has been working on cyber security issues for more than a decade on the Committee. Within the past year, he has called for a national cyber security strategy, held hearings to call attention to the increasing occurrence of cyber attacks on private sector businesses, and worked to strengthen the federal government’s capabilities to respond to cyber attacks on the electric grid. He has been deeply involved in crafting a stronger national cyber security infrastructure to close immense vulnerabilities.

Bio-Security and Public Health Preparedness. After former Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell and a Congressionally-created commission chaired by former Senators Bob Graham and Jim Talent warned that a terrorist WMD attack is more likely than not to occur somewhere in the world in the next five years and that a biological attack is more likely than a nuclear attack, Senator Lieberman introduced the Weapons of Mass Destruction Prevention and Preparedness Act of 2009 with Senator Collins. The bill provides a comprehensive framework for preventing and preparing for a WMD attack with a particular focus on biological weapons. Key provisions include increasing security at U.S. laboratories that handle dangerous pathogens, providing for distribution of medical countermeasures to first responders, increasing pathogen surveillance internationally, requiring additional emergency response information to be conveyed to the public, and supporting individual and community preparedness.

Senator Lieberman actively oversaw the government response to the H1N1 influenza (swine flu) pandemic and held four hearings on the subject in 2009, including one in Connecticut. He has continually pressed the Department of Health and Human Services to distribute vaccines and antiviral medications quickly. While the vaccine was developed with unprecedented speed, international manufacturers delayed the production and delivery, causing shortages in many areas. The Senator will continue to engage with administration officials to ensure that our public health response improves and that we have the domestic capacity to produce vaccines and medical therapeutics quickly.

Senator Lieberman has worked on other fronts to reduce the threat of bioterrorism and ensure that states get the funding they need to adequately prepare for a bioterror attack. A 2005 Government Accountability Office report requested by Lieberman undermined the Department of Health and Human Services' claim that bio preparedness funds had been unused by states and should be redirected elsewhere. He introduced legislation to stimulate the development of breakthrough bioterror drugs and vaccines. And he has spoken out on the need to adequately fund first responders and other health care professionals.

Border Security/Immigration. Senator Lieberman has a long history of leadership in immigration issues, having long supported comprehensive immigration reform. Lieberman believes that comprehensive immigration reform would be an "historic opportunity" to solve a long standing and complicated national social and economic problem. Since 2006 Senator Lieberman has also pursued the enactment of legislation, the “Secure and Safe Detention and Asylum Act,” to improve the treatment of asylum seekers and others held at immigration detention facilities and to promote effective alternatives to detention. He has been closely monitoring the unprecedented violence generated by war between the narco-terrorist drug cartels and the government of Mexico. Although a series of HSGAC hearings concluded that this extreme violence has not spilled across the border, Senator Lieberman has succeeded in increasing the number of federal law enforcement officers, fusion centers, and other resources assigned to the southern border region to more effectively investigate and arrest drug and human smugglers. Senator Lieberman has also consistently been a leader in creating and expanding programs aimed at stopping terrorist travel, including US-VISIT, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, and the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, and has continued to monitor the implementation of these programs to ensure that they are delivering on their promise.

9/11 Commission, Intelligence Reform, and Improving America's Security Act of 2007. In 2001, with Senator John McCain, Senator Lieberman co-authored the legislation that created the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the 9-11 Commission). After the Commission's recommendations were published in July 2004, Senators Lieberman and Collins spearheaded the effort to enact them into law. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorist Prevention Act of 2004 reorganized the nation's intelligence community for the first time in 50 years by creating a strong Director of National Intelligence and a National Counter Terrorism Center to improve information sharing among the federal government's 15 intelligence agencies so they would work together to avoid the kind of intelligence missteps that preceded the September 11th attacks. Congress passed the reorganization legislation in November 2004, and the President signed it into law the following month.

In 2007, Congress passed the Improving America's Security Act – a follow up bill including 9/11 Commission recommendations that had not been previously enacted and to improve implementation of recommendations that had been approved. Among its provisions were grants for interoperable communications and other support for first responders, ways to improve information-sharing among all levels of government, restrictions to make it harder for terrorists to infiltrate and operate in the U.S., and a requirement that by 2010 all goods coming into U.S. ports of entry be scanned for nuclear materials and other dangers.

Hurrican Katrina Investigation: A Nation Still Unprepared. The response to Hurricane Katrina shook the public's confidence in the ability of government at all levels to protect its citizens in a crisis. Immediately after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in August of 2005, Senators Lieberman and Collins launched an investigation into government's response to the disaster.

By April 2006, the Committee held a total of 23 hearings, conducted formal interviews with more than 325 witnesses, and reviewed over 838,000 pages of documentation, all of which was reflected in the report "Hurricane Katrina: A Nation Still Unprepared." The 749-page report contained 88 recommendations for local, state, and federal governments to adopt in order to prevent a similar disastrous response to the next catastrophe. The report concluded that Katrina was the first catastrophe that tested all levels of government since 9/11, and all levels of government failed the test. Senator Lieberman also submitted additional views on the Administration's lack of cooperation with the Committee's investigation and the White House's leadership failures in Katrina. The report contained a series of recommendations, which Senators Lieberman and Collins set about to enact into law.

FEMA Reform. In 2006, Senators Lieberman and Collins drafted legislation to reshape the Federal Emergency Management Agency into an agency that would more effectively prepare for and respond to catastrophes, including natural disasters and terrorist attacks. The legislation elevated FEMA to special status within the Department of Homeland Security, much like the Coast Guard and designated the head of FEMA to be the President's point person during an emergency. The bill also called for the reunification of the preparedness and response functions within FEMA, giving it responsibility for all phases of emergency management. And the measure strengthened FEMA's regional offices, creating dedicated interagency "strike teams" to provide the initial federal response to a disaster in the region. The legislation passed Congress in September 2006. As the 2007 hurricane season approached, Senator Lieberman held an oversight hearing on implementation of the FEMA reforms on May 22, 2007. He urged FEMA to implement the reforms at a quicker pace.

First Responders. Chairman Lieberman has long been a forceful advocate for adequate funding for the training and equipping of first responders. The Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007, which Chairman Lieberman co-authored, codified several programs to assist State and local governments and first responders prepare for and respond to terrorism, natural disasters and other incidents. These include the State Homeland Security Grant Program (which supports a wide range of state preparedness efforts, including law enforcement activities to prevent terrorism), the Urban Area Security Initiative (which provides funds to those metropolitan areas at highest risk of terrorism), Emergency Management Performance Grants (which support planning and other emergency management efforts for all hazards), and the Interoperable Emergency Communications Grant Program (which promotes the ability of first responders to communicate with each other during disasters). Each year, Chairman Lieberman has fought to ensure sufficient funding for these and other vital programs. In Fiscal Year 2009, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), part of the Department of Homeland Security, distributed nearly $4 billion to support state and local preparedness efforts.

Chairman Lieberman has also been a strong supporter of programs to assist fire fighters and promote fire safety. In 2000, he co-sponsored the FIRE Act, which provides funds to local fire departments to enable them to purchase new equipment and undertake education and training programs. In 2003, he cosponsored the SAFER Act, a law that helps local fire departments alleviate critical shortfalls in professional and volunteer personnel. Since the SAFER and FIRE Acts were enacted, FEMA has distributed over 550 grants for a total of more than $60 million in Connecticut to help fire departments strengthen their response capabilities.

Chairman Lieberman has also worked hard to intensify efforts to achieve communications interoperability for first responders and all levels of government. He championed the creation of the Office of Emergency Communications within DHS to strengthen the Department’s leadership in this area, and he also authored the provision in the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act establishing the Interoperable Emergency Communications Grant program, which assist States in finding solutions to interoperability challenges.

Rail, Transit, and Port Security. Improved port, rail and transit security, both on a national level and for the citizens of Connecticut, is a central plank in Senator Lieberman’s homeland security platform. The Long Island Sound is a vital seaway, and the Metro North/New Haven rail line alone carries more than 110,000 riders each day.

The Senator has co-authored several pieces of legislation designed to strengthen the security of our domestic ports and transportation infrastructure. In 2006, Congress passed the Security and Accountability for Every (SAFE) Port Act, which required the development of a comprehensive maritime security strategy and authorized $400 million annually for port security grants. In 2007, Congress passed the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act, which, among other things, required improved information and intelligence sharing among federal, state and local transportation security officials and authorized the expansion of teams of specially trained law enforcement officers to be deployed to subway and train stations or airports to augment local security forces. The legislation also authorized over $4 billion for fiscal years 2007 through 2011 for rail, transit and bus security grants.

Senator Lieberman has also examined transportation vulnerabilities and priorities through hearings. In hearings in 2009 on the terrorist attack in Mumbai, India, he explored the threat to the U.S. from small vessel attack. Senator Lieberman will continue his oversight of these issues and expects to work with Senator Collins and other Members to update and reauthorize the SAFE Port Act and other legislation that will strengthen the security of our transportation nfrastructure.

Chemical Facility Security. In the years since the 9/11 attacks, Senator Lieberman has worked to strengthen security measures at our nation's chemical facilities to protect against the risk of terrorist attack – first in the Environment and Public Works Committee and more recently in the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. In 2005 and 2006, Senator Lieberman worked with Senator Collins to draft bipartisan chemical security legislation and win its approval in the Committee. Those efforts helped pave the way for Congressional authorization of a Department of Homeland Security chemical site security program in fall of 2006, although that program was more limited than the Committee-passed legislation. Since then, Senator Lieberman has worked to oversee and strengthen the DHS chemical security program. The Committee expects to take up legislation to strengthen that program in 2010.

For more information on Homeland Security, please visit the following web sites:

To learn more about the most recent HSGAC hearing on violent Islamist extremism, click here.

United States General Accounting Office
United States Department of Homeland Security (Grants and Training)
The White House Homeland Security State Contact List
The Connecticut Department of Public Safety

 

Corporate Accountability

Financial Regulatory Reform When corporate scandals shook the financial markets in 2001 and 2002, Senator Lieberman opened a wide-ranging inquiry into the independence and effectiveness of those responsible for overseeing the nation's financial markets. The Committee exposed patterns of lax oversight—either the result of outright negligence or entrenched conflicts of interest—and recommended immediate reforms to restore investor confidence. The Committee also issued a series of reports offering concrete recommendations for government watchdogs that would restore fairness, transparency, and integrity to the markets. In the wake of the mutual fund scandals in the fall of 2003, Senator Lieberman cosponsored legislation to bring comprehensive reform to the industry by making it more open and accountable to the average investor and also introduced the Small Investor Protection Act of 2004, which sought to reorient the regulation of the country's financial markets to better serve the interests of small individual investors.

After the near-collapse of the financial sector in 2008, Senator Lieberman launched a series of hearings examining the root causes of the crisis and identifying potential reforms. In a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Senator Lieberman highlighted recommendations emerging from these hearings, such as the need for broad structural reform eliminating the gaps in our current regulatory system and providing regulators with the authority they need to prevent crises before they happen.

 

Federal Contracting

Federal Contracting Reform The amount of money that the federal government spends on contracts has more than doubled since 2000, and far too often, oversight of contracting by federal agencies has been weak, exposing the taxpayers to the risk of cost overruns and poor performance. In 2007, Senator Lieberman joined Senator Collins in sponsoring S.680, the Accountability in Government Contracting Act, which passed the Senate November 11, 2007. The reforms championed by Senators Lieberman and Collins require new rules to enhance competition in contracting and impose limits on particularly troublesome contracts such as sole source contracts and non-competitive contracts. Lieberman has also chaired a number of hearings to explore ways to reduce waste in contracting, including hearings on contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, auditing problems within the Defense Contract Audit Agency, and the heavy reliance by the Department of Homeland Security on contractors. In addition, in the 111th Congress, recognizing the breadth of challenges raised by the government’s extensive use of contractors, Senator Lieberman established a new Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight within the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, which is chaired by Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri.

 

DC Voting Rights

DC Voting Rights. Every Congress since 2002, Sen. Lieberman has teamed up with Washington D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes-Norton to push for voting rights for citizens of the District of Columbia. In 2009, the Senate passed the D.C. Voting Rights Act, a bill that would give the citizens of the District the right to a voting member in the House of Representatives in exchange for a fourth Congressional seat for the state of Utah, which is next in line to receive an additional seat based on 2000 Census numbers. The House has not agreed to the bill.

 

Electronic Government

Electronic Government. Senator Lieberman authored and gained passage of the E-Government Act in 2002, which aims to harness information technology to more effectively deliver government information and services, enhance public access, and increase citizen participation in government. Since that time, he has closely overseen implementation of the Act, including provisions to increase public access to court records and protect the privacy of individuals’ personal information contained in those records

 

Congressional Accountability

Lobbying Reform. In 2006, in the wake of several lobbying scandals, Senators Lieberman, McCain and Collins worked to draft a bill, S.2128, the Lobbying Transparency and Accountability Act. This legislation was folded into a package of ethics reforms drafted by the Rules Committee, S.2349, and was passed by the Senate in March 2006. In January 2007, the bill became part of S.1, the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, which Senate leaders designated as their number one priority for the 110th Congress. Thanks in part to Senator Lieberman’s leadership in managing the bill, it cleared the Senate in January 2007and was signed into law on September 14, 2007.

In 2006, in the wake of several lobbying scandals, Senators Lieberman, McCain and Collins worked to draft a bill, S.2128, the Lobbying Transparency and Accountability Act. This legislation was folded into a package of ethics reforms drafted by the Rules Committee, S.2349, and was passed by the Senate in March 2006. In January 2007, the bill became part of S.1, the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, which Senate leaders designated as their number one priority for the 110th Congress. Thanks in part to Senator Lieberman’s leadership in managing the bill, it cleared the Senate in January 2007and was signed into law on September 14, 2007.

Congressional Accountability Law. Senator Lieberman co-authored and helped win passage of the Congressional Accountability Act in 1995, which applies the same basic federal civil rights, employee protection, labor, and public access laws to Congress that apply to other sectors.

 

Federal Employees

Domestic Partners. Chairman Lieberman introduced legislation in the 109th, 110th, and 1111th Congresses to provide federal employees with domestic partners the same benefits provided to federal employees with an opposite-sex spouse, such as healthcare, retirement and disability plans, family leave, worker’s compensation, and group life insurance. The same obligations would also apply – such as conflict of interest provisions, anti-nepotism rules, and disclosure requirements. After two hearings in the 110th and 111th Congresses, the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee reported the legislation out to the full Senate in December 2009.

Retirement Benefits. Chairman Lieberman introduced legislation in the 109th, 110th, and 1111th Congresses to provide federal employees with domestic partners the same benefits provided to federal employees with an opposite-sex spouse, such as healthcare, retirement and disability plans, family leave, worker’s compensation, and group life insurance. The same obligations would also apply – such as conflict of interest provisions, anti-nepotism rules, and disclosure requirements. After two hearings in the 110th and 111th Congresses, the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee reported the legislation out to the full Senate in December 2009.

 

Postal Reform

Postal Reform. Senator Lieberman supported and actively worked for passage of comprehensive postal reform legislation, which, after many years of effort, finally passed the House on December 8, 2006, and the Senate on December 9, 2006. This first modernization of the Postal Service in more than 30 years was intended to simplify and stabilize the process for setting postal rates and to out the Postal Service on stronger financial footing. But the economic slowdown of 2008-2009 put additional strain on the postal service, leading the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to pass legislation in 2009 to give the Postal Service additional borrowing authority so it could meet its financial obligations.

 

Environmental Oversight

Environmental Oversight. Senator Lieberman used his position as Ranking Member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and Chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee to monitor the Bush Administration’s enforcement of environmental laws. In 2004, he questioned the science underlying Fish and Wildlife Service decisions on protecting the Florida panther, leading him to doubt the effectiveness of the actual preservation efforts. Subsequently, Fish and Wildlife conceded it used faulty science. In 2001, Senator Lieberman conducted an investigation and issued a report documenting the Administration's disregard for a fair and public rulemaking process in its efforts to do away with important environmental regulations. Since then, he has challenged similar efforts to undermine public health and environmental protections, such as preservation of public lands and animal waste controls.

 

Campaign Finance Reform

Campaign Finance Reform. Senator Lieberman was a leading cosponsor of the landmark McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform legislation enacted in 2002. He also was the author of earlier legislation that forced Section 527 organizations-so-called Stealth PACS-to disclose basic information about themselves and their income and expenditures, and he continues to work with Senators McCain and Feingold to seek greater accountability from these groups. Senator Lieberman also played a crucial role during the Governmental Affairs Committee's investigation of campaign finance abuses during the 1996 campaign.

 

Regulatory Reform

Regulatory Reform. Senator Lieberman has used his position on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee over the years to combat efforts to impair government agencies' ability to act in a timely manner to protect health, safety, consumers, and environment.