Rep. Thompson urges House rules changes to allow for DHS reforms

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) is advocating for a change to the House of Representative’s Rules to give the Committee on Homeland Security primary jurisdiction over the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Both Republicans and Democrats have expressed openness to revisiting House Rule X and considering such jurisdictional changes for the next Congress.

“This lack of consolidated jurisdiction has left DHS without strong direction – and we are seeing how it contributes to chaos under the Trump administration,” Thompson, chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, said before the House Rules Committee. “I am proposing – as Chairs on both sides of the aisle have in the past – that Congress reorganize the Committee’s jurisdiction to bring it in line with the goal of the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations, and to give the Department a true authorizing Committee with the authority to advance reform legislation and put it on a positive path. I recognize the challenge that presents and remember the difficulty in simply creating the Committee in the first place. However, it is the right thing to do, and the time to do has come.”

In 2004, the bipartisan 9/11 Commission recommended that there be one permanent standing committee for homeland security in each chamber to have “a single, principal point of oversight.” In 2005, the House established the Committee on Homeland Security as the first new standing committee since 1974. However, the statement did not give the Committee jurisdiction over DHS but limited its jurisdiction to six narrow DHS activities. In 2011, the Bipartisan Policy Center described jurisdiction over DHS as being “carved up to accommodate antiquated committee structures.” In 2013, the Aspen Institute and Annenberg Foundation issued a task force report that called for streamlining and consolidating Congressional oversight over the Department. In 2020, the Atlantic Council recommended reform, explaining that “more than 90 committees and subcommittees have jurisdiction over all or part of DHS.”