Legislative Activity Lawmakers Unveil Report, Legislation to Strengthen U.S. Aviation Security On Monday, February 6, the majority staff of the House Homeland Security Committee released a report titled “America’s Airports: The Threat From Within.” The report recommends nine ways to assist airports, airlines, and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to address insider threats facing the … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Lawmakers Call for Sequestration Repeal Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, has enlisted other lawmakers in urging House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) to repeal Pentagon spending limits mandated by the 2011 Budget Control Act. Twenty-four Republicans have signed on to the letter, which seeks a floor … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Panel to Consider Changes to Investment Visa Program This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing to consider changes to the EB-5 Regional Center Program. This program is designed to bolster the U.S. economy by incentivizing investment by foreign individuals. So-called “regional centers” pool EB-5 funds for investment in projects. In … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Congress Reacts to Administration’s Implementation Plan for Changes to Visa Waiver Program On January 21, the Administration announced plans to begin implementing changes to the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) included in the omnibus appropriations bill funding the government through the end of FY 2016. The VWP permits citizens from approved countries to enter … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House to Vote on Changes to Visa Waiver Program, While Attention Could Soon Turn to U.S. Visa System Overall House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has scheduled a vote this week on a measure to overhaul the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), which permits citizens from approved countries to enter the United States visa-free. … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Lawmakers React to Paris Attacks The world reacted with sorrow and outrage following a series of attacks across Paris on Friday, November 13. While the French continued to mourn the scores lost, the Hollande government stepped up airstrikes in Syria against ISIL, which claimed responsibility for the attacks. Lawmakers quickly began to into … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Appropriations Panel Approves Homeland Security Spending Bill, Scrutinizes “Sanctuary City” Policies This week, the House Appropriations Committee approved its FY 2016 spending bill funding homeland security programs. The measure provides $39.3 billion in discretionary funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), $337 million below the amount enacted for FY 2015 … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Appropriations Panel to Consider Homeland Security Measure This Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee will meet to consider its draft FY 2016 bill funding homeland security programs. The Subcommittee on Homeland Security unanimously approved the measure, which provides $39.3 billion in discretionary funding, on Thursday, July 9. Though the subcommittee vote was unanimous, … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Homeland Security Chair Concerned with Flow of Foreign Fighters On Friday, May 29, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mike McCaul (R-TX) participated in a meeting with top officials from around the world, including U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, at the United Nations to discuss the threat from foreign fighters. … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Immigration Provision Removed from House Defense Bill On Friday, the House passed H.R. 1735, the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2016, by a vote of 269 in favor and 151 against. During floor debate, the chamber narrowly approved an amendment proposed by Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) stripping language from H.R. 1735 that would … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Immigration Amendments Threaten Annual Defense Authorization Bill This week, the House of Representatives will debate the FY 2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) (H.R. 1735), Congress’s annual measure authorizing defense programs. During its consideration of the bill last week, the House Armed Services Committee approved two amendments that would ask the Defense Secretary … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity DHS FY 2016 Appropriations Continues Debate Over Immigration and U.S. Secret Service Challenges FY 2016 funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) could restart debate on Capitol Hill regarding the President’s executive actions on immigration, the very same fight that almost derailed FY 2015 funding for the agency earlier this year. While … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Gyrocopter Lands on Capitol Lawn, Sparks Security Concerns On Wednesday afternoon, Doug Hughes, a Florida postal worker, flew a small gyrocopter through protected Washington airspace and landed on the west lawn of the Capitol. Hughes reportedly planned to deliver letters on campaign finance reform addressed to each of the 535 Members of Congress. … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Bill Would Tighten Requirements for Visa Waiver Program A proposed House bill seeks to strengthen requirements under the visa waiver program in place for nationals from certain countries. The Visa Waiver Program Improvement Act of 2015 (H.R. 158), originally introduced by Rep. Candice Miller (R-MI), aims to tighten requirements under the visa … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Immigration Reform Unlikely to Move in Foreseeable Future After weeks of back and forth, the House and Senate successfully passed legislation funding the U.S. Department of Homeland Security through the end of the fiscal year. The final bill did not include controversial provisions blocking implementation of the President’s recent executive actions on immigration. … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Congress Narrowly Averts DHS Shut-Down, Passes Stop-Gap Measure Late Friday night, Congress passed a stopgap measure extending funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) one week, clearing the bill for the President’s signature less than two hours before the previous Continuing Resolution (CR) was set to expire. The 11th hour agreement came … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity DHS Funding Deadline Nears Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding expires on Friday, February 27, leaving only days for Congress to act to fund DHS. The Senate has not been able to overcome a Democratic filibuster of the House DHS funding legislation (H.R. 240), which includes policy riders blocking the President’s executive actions … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity DHS Funding Deadline Days Away With days before U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding expires on February 27, Congress appears no closer to resolving the partisan impasse. The Senate has set aside time Monday to vote on the House version of the spending bill (H.R. 240), but it remains to be seen … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Appropriators Plan to Advance FY 2015 Spending Bill House Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Rogers (R-AL) is expected to release an FY 2015 spending bill as early as today. The bill has been dubbed the “cromnibus,” to denote that it will be a hybrid of an omnibus of up to 11 individual spending bills … Continue Reading
On November 20, 2014, President Obama announced the signing of an executive order that will have significant implications for the country’s immigration system. As a result, employers need to begin to consider how changes in employment eligibility verification and worksite enforcement, immigrant and nonimmigrant visas, and employment-based immigration provisions will impact their businesses. Squire Patton … Continue Reading
Presidential Trip G-20 Summit. Over the weekend, President Barack Obama participated in the G-20 Leaders Summit in Brisbane, Australia. While the Summit agenda focused on the global economy, the global banking system and closing tax loopholes for multinational corporations, Western leaders also met and discussed the situation in Ukraine. On Sunday, the White House released a … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate to Mark Up FY 2015 DHS Appropriations The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security has announced that it will mark up the FY 2015 Homeland Security Appropriations bill on Tuesday, June 24. The Senate 302(b) spending allocation for homeland security is $45.9 billion, which is $6.7 billion more than the House’s homeland … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Budget and Appropriations The House approved its version of FY 2014 Homeland Security appropriations on June 6, but the Senate is just beginning the appropriations process. Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) has announced that the Homeland Security Subcommittee 302(b) allocation for FY 2014 will be $39.1 billion (plus $227 billion for … Continue Reading
