Providing amounts for the expenses of the Select Committee on Homeland Security.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly support House Resolution 110 which provides almost $11 million for the Select Committee on Homeland Security for the 108th Congress. Mr. Speaker, I want to commend my leader, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi) and the Speaker of the House, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert), for their outstanding choices in Select Committee on Homeland Security leadership. I do not believe one could select two finer individuals than the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox) or the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Turner). We all know that they face a daunting task of building a committee from scratch while they simultaneously are engaging in substantive committee business. Since September 11, this has created an important urgency that the United States Congress must address, and both of these gentlemen, we believe, along with the vast experience that the members of that committee will bring, will handle this task adroitly.

Again, I would applaud the efforts of the committee Chair in ensuring the one-third/two-thirds split on the committee, and I also want to extend an extra thanks to the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox) as well who went out of his way to secure extra space on behalf of the committee as well.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly support House Resolution 110, which provides almost $11,000,000 to the Select Committee on Homeland Security for the 108th Congress. The Select Committee on Homeland Security is the newest committee in the House of Representatives. Its mission--to oversee and set policy for the new Department of Homeland Security--will affect the security and safety of every American for years to come.

No one denies that the Select Committee on Homeland Security must be given ample resources to oversee the most significant restructuring of the Federal government since 1947 and help secure this nation's borders. I am pleased that House Resolution 110 proposes just that.

As I learned during committee funding hearings in March, the gentleman from California, Chairman Cox, and the gentleman from Texas, Rep. Turner, face the daunting task of building a committee from scratch while simultaneously engaging in substantive committee business.

House Resolution 110 will provide the wherewithal for Mr. Cox and Ranking Mr. Turner to hire professional staff with a wide-range of expertise, establish secure office space, procure office equipment and technology, and conduct field hearings on a wide-range of security issues, including port security, First Responders, and continuity in communications.

Mr. Speaker, I want to commend my leader, Nancy Pelosi, and Speaker Hastert for their outstanding choices to lead Homeland Security Committee. If there are two individuals better qualified to lead the committee, I do not know them. I dare say our colleagues do not know them, either.

Rep. Turner and Rep. Cox bring a command of the issues, the respect of their colleagues, an ability to put politics aside when circumstances demand it, and an incredible appetite for hard work. Without question, these qualities will serve the new committee very well. In selecting the gentlemen from Texas and California to carry out the toughest and most sensitive assignments of the 108th Congress, Leader Pelosi and Speaker Hastert have distinguished themselves by putting the security and safety of the American people ahead of all other considerations. That is what leadership is all about.

I was especially pleased to learn during the March hearing that Chairman Cox intends to honor what is referred to as the ``Two-thirds, One-third Principle.'' This common-sense principle, which has worked extremely well for the other House committees, will provide Ranking Minority Member Turner and the Committee's Minority Staff a minimum of one-third of the total funds, one-third of the total staff positions, and the control to expend those funds within the Committee's administrative guidelines, with no unusual constraints on the gentleman from Texas. Practiced faithfully, this principle will help ensure that the Select Committee on Homeland Security operates in as non-partisan a manner as possible. Given the sensitive nature of the Committee's work, the American people deserve nothing less.

Finally, let me thank Chairman Cox for his efforts to procure adequate committee space for Mr. Turner and his staff. As we all know, space is a scarce resource in the House. Nevertheless, Mr. Cox has gone out of his way to accommodate the space needs of Mr. Turner.

I thank the distinguished Chairman for bringing House Resolution 110 to the floor, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to the order of the House of today, I call up the resolution (H. Res. 110) providing amounts for the expenses of the Committee on Homeland Security in the One Hundred Eighth Congress, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, we are here today to consider House Resolution 110, a resolution providing for the expenses of the Select Committee on Homeland Security.

House Resolution 110 authorizes a total of $10,952,787 for the 108th Congress for the Select Committee on Homeland Security with $5,366,000 being allocated for 2003 and $5,585,000 being allocated for 2004.

The select committee was created to oversee the implementation of the Homeland Security Act of 2002. Its functions include working with the President to ensure the efficient and timely establishment of the Department of Homeland Security; coordinating efforts between Congress and the Federal agencies responsible for protecting our Nation from terrorist attacks; and reviewing and studying laws, programs, and government activities affecting homeland security.

This funding will enable the select committee to provide this important oversight function by overseeing the newly created Homeland Security Department and ensuring that the combined agencies are doing the job we all expect of them with regards to protecting our homeland and its security.

The funding for the Select Committee on Homeland Security is being considered in a resolution separate from the resolution that was just passed that funds the other standing committees, which was House Resolution 148, again due to the fact that the select committee is not yet a permanent committee.

I think we can all agree that after the tragic events of September 11, 2001 and the subsequent biological attacks that took place here at the U.S. Capitol, it was necessary to create a Federal department to coordinate security activities on the home front and to follow that up by creating an entity that will conduct the appropriate oversight activities.

I believe this resolution represents the product of a carefully constructed budget request. Ongoing discussions were held between myself, our staff, the gentleman from California (Chairman Cox) and his staff to come up with a budget that was not only reasonable, but would also allow the select committee to do the job that it was chartered to do. I should also mention the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Larson), our ranking member, and his staff greatly assisted in this process by communicating with the select committee's ranking member, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Turner) to produce the product that we have before us.

Like the other committees, the select committee will adhere to the two-thirds/one-third ratio of dividing committee resources between the majority and the minority. I would like to thank the gentleman from California (Chairman Cox) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Turner) for their efforts in reaching that goal.

In conclusion, I believe this resolution provides the Select Committee on Homeland Security with the necessary funds to complete its mission. I urge my colleagues to support the passage of the resolution. I again thank our ranking member and our members from both sides of the aisle and the staff on the committee for bringing this before us today.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that it shall be in order at any time without intervention of any point of order to consider House Resolution 110;

The resolution shall be considered as read for amendment;

The amendment recommended by the Committee on House Administration now printed in the resolution shall be considered as adopted;

The resolution, as amended, shall be debatable for 1 hour, equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on House Administration; and

The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the resolution, as amended, to final adoption without intervening motion.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of House Resolution 110.