Proposed Homeland Security bill up for debate

The Senate Committee on Appropriations recently approved a $47.09 billion measure to fund border security, immigration enforcement, cybersecurity, disaster assistance and other programs in an effort to keep Americans safe.

The FY2016 Homeland Security Appropriations bill, approved on a bipartisan 26 to 4 vote, is now available for consideration by the Senate.

“The American people expect the protection that this bipartisan legislation would provide to confront threats from the air, land and sea, and in cyberspace," U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, said. "This important bill deserves to be debated by all Senators as soon as possible to ensure the Department of Homeland Security has the tools it needs to carry out its national security missions.”

John Hoeven (R-N.D.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, agreed.

“This bill supports a wide range of critical operations at DHS to secure our nation, from mitigating the impacts of natural disasters to securing our borders and airports," Hoeven said. "Further, we address the deficiencies in some of DHS’ agencies by making important investments in training, technology and improved procedures, while also requiring new measures and performance evaluations to ensure future accountability and results. This legislation is the result of a close, bipartisan effort. We have worked hard to include the input of all our committee members, and I thank them for their contributions."