Ranking Member

Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger is serving his sixth term in the United States House of Representatives for the citizens of Maryland’s 2nd District. Congressman Ruppersberger is known as a common sense consensus builder who works with Members from both sides of the aisle to get results for Maryland and the nation.

Congressman Ruppersberger was the first Democratic freshman ever appointed to the Hous

e Select Committee on Intelligence. The committee oversees the collection and analysis of intelligence from around the world to ensure our national security and prevent potential crisis situations — especially terrorist activity.

Congressman Ruppersberger was named Ranking Member of the Intelligence Committee in 2011. The Ranking Member is the senior-most member from the minority party and places Congressman Ruppersberger on the elite “Gang of Eight,” which refers to the four top members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees along with the Senate Majority Leader, Senate Minority Leader, House Speaker and House Minority Leader. By law, the President must keep the Gang of Eight informed of our country’s most secret intelligence activities to maintain proper oversight.

Since becoming Ranking Member, Mr. Ruppersberger has worked closely with the Chairman of the Committee, Mike Rogers (R-MI). The team has worked hard to create a bipartisan environment for the Committee, ultimately enhancing its capacity significantly. The leaders of HPSCI introduced cyber legislation, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, and through an open and inclusive process were able to get it passed by the House with a strong bipartisan majority.

The Senate Intelligence Committee recently marked up their cyber legislation and the Chair and Ranking Member are confident that they will be able to come to an agreement in Conference and ultimately hand the President legislation to sign that will secure our country’s cyber networks.

Also during their tenure, the Chair and Ranking Member have passed four Intelligence Authorization Acts in four years, providing funding and resources, as well as oversight for the Intelligence Community.

The Chair and Ranking Member have also spent this past year working to develop and pass FISA Reform legislation that protects our country’s national security while enhancing privacy and civil liberties protections. Through collaborative work with the Judiciary Committee, the Chair and Ranking Member supported the USA Freedom Act, which achieves their initial goals and passed through the House with solid bipartisan support.