[Pages H830-H831]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

NATIONAL STRATEGY TO COMBAT TERRORIST TRAVEL ACT OF 2016

Mr. KATKO. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill
(H.R. 4408) to require the development of a national strategy to combat
terrorist travel, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:

H.R. 4408

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``National Strategy to Combat
Terrorist Travel Act of 2016''.

SEC. 2. NATIONAL STRATEGY TO COMBAT TERRORIST TRAVEL.

(a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that it
should be the policy of the United States to--
(1) continue to regularly assess the evolving terrorist
threat to the United States;
(2) catalogue existing Federal Government efforts to
obstruct terrorist and foreign fighter travel into, out of,
and within the United States, as well as overseas;
(3) identify such efforts that may benefit from reform or
consolidation, or require elimination;
(4) identify potential security vulnerabilities in United
States defenses against terrorist travel; and
(5) prioritize resources to address in a risk-based manner
any such security vulnerabilities.
(b) National Strategy and Updates.--
(1) In general.--In accordance with paragraph (2), the
President shall transmit to the appropriate congressional
committees a national strategy (including, as appropriate,
updates to such strategy) to combat terrorist travel. The
strategy shall address efforts to intercept terrorists and
foreign fighters and constrain the domestic and international
travel of such persons. Consistent with the protection of
classified information, the strategy shall be submitted in
unclassified form, including, as appropriate, a classified
annex.
(2) Timing.--
(A) Initial strategy.--The initial national strategy
required under paragraph (1) shall be transmitted not later
than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(B) Updated strategies.--Updated national strategies under
paragraph (1) shall be transmitted not later than 180 days
after the commencement of a new presidential administration.
(3) Coordination.--The President shall direct the Secretary
of Homeland Security to develop the initial national strategy
and updates required under this subsection and shall direct,
as appropriate, the heads of other Federal agencies to
coordinate with the Secretary in the development of such
strategy and updates.
(4) Contents.--The initial national strategy and updates
required under this subsection shall--
(A) include an accounting and description of all Federal
Government programs, projects, and activities to constrain
domestic and international travel by terrorists and foreign
fighters;
(B) identify specific security vulnerabilities within the
United States and abroad that may be exploited by terrorists
and foreign fighters;
(C) delineate goals for--
(i) closing the security vulnerabilities identified in
accordance with subparagraph (B); and
(ii) enhancing the Federal Government's ability to
constrain domestic and international travel by terrorists and
foreign fighters; and
(D) describe actions to be taken to achieve the goals
delineated in subparagraph (C), as well as the means needed
to do so, including--
(i) steps to reform, improve, and streamline existing
Federal Government efforts to align with the current threat
environment;
(ii) new programs, projects, or activities that are
requested, under development, or undergoing implementation;
(iii) new authorities or changes in existing authorities
needed from Congress;
(iv) specific budget adjustments being requested to enhance
United States security in a risk-based manner; and
(v) an identification of Federal departments and agencies
responsible for specific actions described in this
subparagraph.
(5) Sunset.--The requirement to transmit updated national
strategies under this subsection shall terminate on the date
that is seven years after the date of the enactment of this
Act.
(c) Development of Implementation Plans.--For each national
strategy required under subsection (b), the President shall
direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop an
implementation plan for the Department of Homeland Security
and coordinate with the heads of other relevant Federal
agencies to ensure the development of implementing plans for
each such agency.
(d) Implementation Plans.--
(1) In general.--The President shall transmit to the
appropriate congressional committees implementation plans for
each national strategy required under subsection (b).
Consistent with the protection of classified information,
each such implementation plan shall be transmitted in
unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.
(2) Timing.--The implementation plans referred to in
paragraph (1) shall be transmitted simultaneously with each
national strategy required under subsection (b). Such
implementation plans shall be updated and transmitted to the
appropriate congressional committees on an annual basis.
(3) Sunset.--The requirement to transmit implementation
plans under paragraph (1) shall terminate on the date that is
ten years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(e) Prohibition on Additional Funding.--No additional funds
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section.
(f) Definition.--In this section, the term ``appropriate
congressional committees'' means--
(1) in the House of Representatives--
(A) the Committee on Homeland Security;
(B) the Committee on Armed Services;
(C) the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence;
(D) the Committee on the Judiciary;
(E) the Committee on Foreign Affairs; and
(F) the Committee on Appropriations; and
(2) in the Senate--
(A) the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs;
(B) the Committee on Armed Services;
(C) the Select Committee on Intelligence;
(D) the Committee on the Judiciary;
(E) the Committee on Foreign Relations; and
(F) the Committee on Appropriations.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New
York (Mr. Katko) and the gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs. Watson
Coleman) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York.

General Leave

Mr. KATKO. 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.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New York?
There was no objection.
Mr. KATKO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, as a former Federal prosecutor, I have spent much of my
life focusing on keeping Americans safe; but when I assumed office, I
was taken aback by the lack of a coherent strategy to stop terrorists
from infiltrating our country and to keep Americans from being lured to
fight with jihadists overseas.
That is why I gladly accepted the opportunity to lead the bipartisan
Task Force on Combating Terrorist and Foreign Fighter Travel. I worked
closely with my colleagues to identify our Nation's top vulnerabilities
and to close them quickly.
Last September, we issued the Task Force's final report, marking the
most

[[Page H831]]

extensive public review since the 9/11 Commission of U.S. efforts to
fight foreign terrorist travel. We made 32 key findings and more than
50 recommendations in that report for enhancing our security. I am
proud to say that, as of today, we have acted on almost half of those
already, including with several of the bills we are considering today.
H.R. 4408 would implement one of our top recommendations. It would
require the President to send to Congress a National Strategy to Combat
Terrorist Travel and an actionable plan to implement it.
It has been nearly 10 years since the White House produced such a
strategy, and since then, the threat has changed dramatically. Terror
has gone viral, and violent extremists are recruiting at the speed of a
re-tweet.
The consequences for U.S. and international security have been
enormous. We have seen terrorist groups balloon into terrorist
microstates capable of fielding their own armies. In fact, today in
Syria and Iraq, we are witnessing the largest convergence of Islamist
terrorists in history.
Reports indicate nearly 40,000 individuals from more than 120
countries have traveled there to join jihadist groups, including
thousands from Western countries, like the United States. Many of these
individuals have easy access to our country and could potentially
return undetected to launch attacks, just as we saw happen in Paris.
Yet, many of the counterterrorism programs we created after 9/11 are
not suited for this new era and have not kept pace with the evolving
threat. What is worse, there is no regular process in place in the
executive branch for reviewing all of our defenses against terrorist
travel to find security gaps and develop a plan to close them.
Agencies are operating without clear, strategic guidance, and
programs to counter terrorist travel are often not fully coordinated
across the government spectrum. The result is that not only are we at
greater risk that terrorists will slip through the cracks, but we also
are at greater risk of government waste, overlap, and duplication.
This bill would force the administration to assess all of the efforts
in place to stop terrorists from crossing borders, streamline them,
identify security gaps, and prioritize taxpayer dollars where they are
needed most. It would also, for the first time ever, require the White
House to produce a plan for intercepting foreign fighters.
After 9/11, we spent a lot of time focused on keeping terrorists from
getting into our country, but we did not spend enough time focused on
stopping terrorists from recruiting our citizens to leave it and become
overseas operatives. Once they travel to terrorist safe havens, these
individuals become a triple threat. They strengthen jihadist groups on
the ground, incite followers back home to conduct attacks, and can
return battle-hardened and prepared to carry out their own acts of
violence on their homeland.
Make no mistake: we are at war. ISIS has already been linked to
nearly 75 plots against the West, including more than 20 against the
U.S. homeland. Our adversaries are clearly dead set on attacking this
country. We need to show the American people that we are dead set on
defending it.
I am proud of the bipartisan work of the task force and grateful for
the close collaboration of Mr. Keating, Mr. Payne, and Ms. Loretta
Sanchez of California on the Democratic side. I would like to
especially thank Mr. Vela for his continued support and significant
contributions. I am, of course, indebted to my Republican colleagues on
the task force for their hard work as well. I also want to thank my
personal office assistant Tim Wang and committee staff Tyler Lowe and
Katy Flynn for their excellent work on this as well.
I urge all Members to join me in supporting this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4408, the National Strategy to
Combat Terrorist Travel Act of 2016.
H.R. 4408 requires the development of a national strategy to combat
terrorist travel by bolstering efforts to intercept terrorists and
foreign fighters, while also constraining their domestic and
international travel.
I applaud the work of the Committee on Homeland Security's Task Force
on Combating Terrorist and Foreign Fighter Travel.
One of the many findings of the task force's final report was that it
has been a decade since the executive branch produced a government-wide
plan to constrain terrorist travel. In the years since the issuance of
the last government-wide plan in 2006, many programs aimed at
restricting or preventing terrorist travel have changed or ended and
new programs have been created.
The task force found that hundreds of programs, projects, and
initiatives have sprouted up to combat terrorist travel since 9/11, but
there is no overarching strategy to coordinate them. Importantly, H.R.
4408 requires that the strategy include an updated, full accounting and
description of America's terror travel preventative and protective
measures. This accounting should provide a valuable baseline for future
efforts to prevent terrorist travel.
H.R. 4408 requires the President to submit to Congress a national
strategy focused on disrupting and intercepting terrorists and foreign
fighters. The strategy is to include an accounting of all U.S.
Government programs to constrain terrorist travel, identify gaps and
how they will be closed, and describe actions to eliminate waste,
overlap, and duplication of efforts.

The evolving nature of the terrorist threat demands a whole-of-
government approach. A national strategy with implementation plans for
each Federal agency involved, as H.R. 4408 requires, has the potential
to deliver real security advances. As such, I support H.R. 4408, and I
urge its passage.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. KATKO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I once again urge my colleagues to support this
bipartisan bill, H.R. 4408.
I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from New York (Mr. Katko) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 4408, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. KATKO. Mr. Speaker, on that, I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

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