National Security and Foreign Policy

As a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, I am in a unique position to strengthen the Department of Homeland Security and shape policies that will keep our communities safe. DHS is the third largest federal agency, with more than 240,000 employees and a budget of $64 billion. One of my top priorities as a member of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Management Efficiency is to make sure there is transparency at DHS and that taxpayer dollars are used efficiently and responsibly. I also sit on the Border and Maritime Subcommittee, working to ensure our borders are secure and our ports can process people and goods quickly and securely.

Recognizing the significance of our nation’s ports to our local economy and how much ports increasingly rely on information technology, I wrote legislation to help protect the cybersecurity infrastructure of our nation’s 360 ports, which the House of Representatives passed unanimously.  I was also proud that the House of Representatives approved legislation I co-authored to improve and permanently authorize the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, the national center that trains our federal, state, and local law enforcement officials.  

Back in the District, I have worked to strengthen the relationship between our local law enforcement, community leaders, and federal homeland security officials by hosting roundtable meetings where we can discuss local threats and build partnerships to keep communities safe and ensure an effective, efficient response to potential dangers.

Finally, as a former 9-1-1 dispatcher, I understand that in order to save lives during emergencies, our first responders must be able to communicate and locate people who need help. As our telecommunications technology becomes more sophisticated and more people rely on cell phones as their primary phone, I believe it is critical that our first responders have a 21st Century 9-1-1 infrastructure. Unfortunately, the federal government has not moved quickly enough to help states fund these critical infrastructure upgrades, so I have called on the Government Accountability Office to assess how these delays negatively impact first responders’ ability to help our communities during times of crisis. This is critical to showing Congress and state governments that we must act now to protect our communities and bring our emergency communications technology into the 21st Century.