U.S. Sen. Mary L. Landrieu, D-New Orleans, Louisiana's senior senator, will chair the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Homeland Security, her office announced Friday.
The subcommittee is responsible for drafting legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security. DHS consists of 20 offices and seven sub-agencies that in Fiscal year 2010 have a budget of $55.35 billion, with $45.95 billion of that discretionary.
"Chairing this subcommittee is a responsibility I look forward to taking on and one I take very seriously," Landrieu said. "DHS is responsible for protecting our country from foreign and domestic terrorist threats, helping our nation prepare for and recover from both manmade and natural disasters, robustly enforcing our immigration laws and ensuring that everyone and everything coming into the country by air, land or sea pose no threat to the American people."
Craig Spohn, executive director of the Cyber Innovation Center and National Cyber Research Park, which Landrieu has long championed, was cheered by the news.
Spohn said he is "excited that our senior senator has gotten such an important seat for our state and our region. We also hope that with Senator Landrieu chairing this subcommittee, it will allow for some of the important programs planned and underway at the CIC (to) obtain DHS sponsorship and support. This is an outstanding position for Senator Landrieu and will be of great importance to the state, the region and the CIC."
Landrieu said she enters the new post "with experience in how DHS works and the issues it faces as we begin the 112th Congress. I serve as a member of both this subcommittee and as a member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, having chaired its Disaster Recovery Subcommittee for the past four years.
"My home state of Louisiana includes the Coast Guard’s largest district headquarters and I have spent years working to reform FEMA in the wake of the devastating hurricanes that battered the Gulf Coast region in 2005.
"I look forward to working with Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, Ranking Member Thad Cochran and the rest of my Senate colleagues to ensure that DHS has the tools it needs to protect America from the broad range of potential threats we face each day."
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