TSA Office of Inspection Accountability Act of 2014

I thank the gentleman for his work on this important piece of legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4803, the TSA Office of Inspection Accountability Act of 2014. Again, I would like to commend the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Sanford) for developing this commonsense bill, which increases accountability within TSA and saves precious taxpayer dollars by requiring the agency to correctly designate criminal investigators within the Office of Inspection.

According to the Department of Homeland Security inspector general, TSA does not ensure that its criminal investigators in the Office of Inspection are meeting the Federal workload requirements for law enforcement officers, even though they are considered law enforcement officers and are receiving premium pay and other benefits.

If nothing is done to correct this problem, the misclassification will cost taxpayers roughly $17 million over the next 5 years. This type of waste is simply unacceptable.

As chairman of the Subcommittee on Transportation Security, I held a hearing on this topic and was both surprised and encouraged to hear the head of the Office of Inspection admit that his office would reduce the number of criminal investigator positions based on the office's workload.

Although an acknowledgement is a step in the right direction, TSA needs to go one step further. It is time for them to take real action on this issue and achieve tangible results, which is precisely what this legislation requires.

In addition to ensuring that the proper classification is placed on criminal investigators, the Committee on Homeland Security agreed to an amendment offered by the ranking member of the full committee, Mr. Thompson, that would require TSA to submit to Congress any materials associated with the Office of Inspection's review of the Federal firearms license by Federal Air Marshals Service officials to obtain discounted or free firearms for their own personal use, as well as specific actions that will be taken to prevent air marshals from exploiting their positions to obtain free or discounted firearms from vendors for their personal use.

I have been concerned with TSA's failure to notify Congress of the ongoing Office of Inspection investigations into potential unethical activity related to the acceptance of free and discounted firearms for personal use among FAMS employees, including senior officials.

I am pleased that this bill would ensure the committee receives access to information that is necessary to carry out its important oversight role, and I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

Mr. Speaker, again, thank you to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Sanford) for this commonsense legislation. Also, I would like to thank the ranking member of the committee, Mr. Richmond, for not only his work on this bill, but in the way we have worked together to make a difference for the American people.

The American people sent us to Congress to get things done, to make their lives better, and to make sure we are scrutinizing every tax dollar that is spent here. I think this piece of legislation, as my colleague from Louisiana said, is a commonsense piece of legislation that does just that.

So I am proud to stand here in support of it. I am proud of the work that Mr. Sanford put into this bill, and I would urge my colleagues to vote for this piece of legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4803) to require the Transportation Security Administration to conform to existing Federal law and regulations regarding criminal investigator positions, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include any extraneous materials on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Hudson).

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

I thank the gentleman from North Carolina for his leadership on the subcommittee. I would say the same to my colleague from Louisiana, for their respective pieces of work on this important bill.

As has already been noted by both of my colleagues, H.R. 4803 calls for, I guess, the institution of a fairly simple premise, and that is, we pay for what we get in government.

That is what they do in the private sector. That is what individuals do in the household. And if you stop and think about it, you wouldn't pay somebody who could run a backhoe or a bulldozer--heavy equipment, if you will--if all you needed was somebody who could run a shovel. You wouldn't pay a chemical engineer to come and clean your pool or mix the chemicals in the pool. You wouldn't hire Wolfgang Puck to come over and fix you a piece of grilled cheese. It may be the greatest piece of grilled cheese you could find, but it isn't what you would be paying for.

So this bill incorporates that commonsense notion of, in government, we ought to get what we pay for. And as has already been noted, criminal investigators in this case do not meet Federal standards with regard to the 50 percent threshold.

This bill does a couple of very, very simple things. It sets in place a standard by which to track whether or not they are doing so. And for the work that isn't to that standard, it eliminates this additional pay, the so-called LEAP pay. LEAP pay is law enforcement availability pay. As has already been noted, again, there is a 25 percent premium, but in many cases, this is the tip of the iceberg, because if you look at additional benefits in terms of early retirement or enhanced training, there is a real cost to the taxpayer that goes with continuing the road that we have been on.

This bill attempts to change that. It has teeth, and it freezes any hiring in the Office of Inspection going forward if these changes aren't made. As my colleague from North Carolina just noted, there are real savings: $17 million. It is small by Federal standards, but think about how many neighborhoods it takes to accumulate $17 million in taxes. It is a step in the right direction in saving taxpayer money.

Mr. Speaker, for all those reasons, I urge additional support of this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Hudson), my chairman.

All that could be said has been said, and with that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4803, the ``TSA Office of Inspection Accountability Act of 2014''.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend the gentleman from South Carolina, Representative Sanford, for his leadership on this legislation.

Upon its creation, TSA was given broad authority to hire, fire, and set the terms of employment of its personnel.

This has resulted in employees, such as Transportation Security Officers, lacking the due process rights afforded other Federal employees.

It has also resulted, in some cases, of abuses of the system for the gain of a few.

According to the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security, TSA's Office of Inspection has been gaming the system by employing a bloated number of personnel as ``criminal investigators'' for years.

Those who are designated as ``criminal investigators'' receive additional compensation and are afforded the right to retire early.

H.R. 4803 will put an end to these abuses by requiring the Inspector General to approve the method used by TSA to designate personnel as criminal investigators and by requiring TSA to certify to Congress that only those individuals performing the requisite criminal investigation work are designated as ``criminal investigators''.

According to the Inspector General, properly classifying individuals within TSA's Office of Inspection could save taxpayers as much as $17 million over five years.

During Committee consideration of this measure, I offered an amendment on behalf of Representative Loretta Sanchez that addresses revelations about misuse of Federal Air Marshal Service official's relationships with private vendors to obtain discounted or free firearms by TSA personnel.

Specifically, in April, the Committee became aware that the former director of the Federal Air Marshal Service bought several guns from an employee who is under investigation for using his position to obtain free and discounted firearms.

Unfortunately, TSA was less than forthcoming with Congress regarding this investigation, leaving many questions unanswered about how the investigation was conducted and the number of FAMs officials involved.

The exploitation of official relationships for personal gain is a serious matter.

Such misuse occurring within the Federal Air Marshal Service, the Law Enforcement component within TSA is unacceptable.

To address the lack of transparency regarding the investigation, the Committee accepted language I offered to require TSA to provide information and materials associated with the Office of Inspection's review of the allegations to Congress.

With that Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4803.

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

I rise in strong support of H.R. 4803, the TSA Office of Inspection Accountability Act of 2014. The Committee on Homeland Security is tasked with conducting oversight over the various components within the Department of Homeland Security.

As the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Transportation Security, I have a particular interest in ensuring that the Transportation Security Administration is operating both effectively and efficiently.

Thanks to the Department of Homeland Security inspector general, we learned late last year that the Office of Inspection is not operating efficiently.

Specifically, we learned that this office was designating some personnel as criminal investigators who did not perform investigative duties to justify such a classification or the salary and benefits conferred a person with that title.

H.R. 4803 seeks to address this problem by requiring the TSA to certify that all persons designated as criminal investigators are working on criminal investigations at least 50 percent of their time.

There is no justification for providing personnel with the enhanced benefits and pay associated with criminal investigators when they are not doing the job of a criminal investigator.

This legislation is not intended to punish the entire Office of Inspection. It recognizes that there are legitimate criminal investigators within the office that have undoubtedly helped to thwart plots and other criminal enterprises that put our Nation at risk. This legislation simply encourages good government and the careful stewardship of taxpayer dollars.

We need to ensure that the resources are used effectively, so that we can keep citizens safe while operating at maximum efficiency. This legislation is a step in the right direction.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I would just like to thank the gentleman from

South Carolina (Mr. Sanford) for introducing this piece of legislation and the chairman of the subcommittee, Chairman Hudson, and, of course, our ranking member, Mr. Bennie Thompson, for the bipartisan work on this bill.

What this bill stands for is just a commonsense approach to government and making sure that we pay for what we get, and it is that very simple premise. So I am honored to be standing here today with my colleagues from the other side of the aisle to do something that just makes common sense.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I would urge my colleagues to support it, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, as a senior member of the Homeland Security Committee and a former chair of the Transportation Security Subcommittee, I rise in support of H.R. 4803, the ``TSA Office of Inspection Accountability Act of 2014.''

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Chairman McCaul and Ranking Member Thompson for their leadership in bringing this legislation to the floor.

H.R. 4803 will save the taxpayers hundreds of thousands dollars annually by requiring the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to conform its personnel classification practices to existing Federal law and regulations regarding criminal investigator positions.

According to a report by the Homeland Security Department's Inspector General (IG), about half of the employees in the Office of Inspection (OII) are classified as criminal investigators even though their duties do not involve responsibilities that can be characterized as criminal investigation activities.

Instead, the responsibilities of these employees primarily consist of administrative duties such as duties of such investigating cases of TSA employee misconduct and conducting internal reviews.

Classifying these employees as ``law enforcement'' personnel, however, makes them eligible for premium pay and other significant economic benefits.

If TSA fails to reclassify criminal investigator positions as noncriminal investigator positions or non-law-enforcement positions, this will cost taxpayers as much as $17,000,000 over 5 years.

This money could be utilized to ensure that law enforcement agencies, which identify, apprehend, and prosecute criminals, have the- tools, resources, and training necessary to do their job efficiently, effectively, and economically.

Mr. Speaker, I have always strongly supported providing the resources needed by law enforcement and first responders and will continue to do in future.

But we have an obligation to the American people to be responsible stewards of the public fisc and it is not responsible to provide premium pay and benefits intended for law enforcement personnel to employees who do not perform the dangerous duties of law enforcement officers.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 803, which directs the Office of Inspection to reclassify its current criminal investigator positions to conform to the requirements of applicable law and save the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.