Homeland Security Committee and the bills it addressed on Sept. 22

The Homeland Security Committee handled H.R.8949, H.Res.1394 bills on Sept. 22, according to the US Congress.

Bill H.R.8949 titled “To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to extend counter-unmanned aircraft systems authorities, to improve transparency, safety, and accountability related to such authorities, and for other purposes” was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary and in addition to the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure and Homeland Security for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned by the House of Representatives. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Jerrold Nadler with Peter Defazio, Sam Graves, John Katko, Bennie Thompson as cosponsors.

Bill H.Res.1394 titled “Expressing support for the designation of September 2022 as National Voting Rights Month”. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Marc Veasey with Nanette Barragan, Earl Blumenauer, Anthony Brown, Shontel Brown, K. Butterfield G., Tony Cárdenas, Andre Carson, Troy Carter, Sheila Cherfilus-Mccormick, Yvette Clarke, Gerald Connolly, Jim Costa, Danny Davis, Suzan Delbene, Debbie Dingell, Dwight Evans, Ruben Gallego, Al Green, Raúl Grijalva, Brian Higgins, Sara Jacobs, Pramila Jayapal, Henry Johnson, Ro Khanna, Daniel Kildee, Raja Krishnamoorthi, James Langevin, Barbara Lee, Ted Lieu, Carolyn Maloney, Betty Mccollum, Grace Meng, Gwen Moore, Grace Napolitano, Eleanor Norton, Stacey Plaskett, Jamie Raskin, Linda Sánchez, Janice Schakowsky, David Scott, Robert Scott, Terri Sewell, Adam Smith, Darren Soto, Haley Stevens, Thomas Suozzi, Dina Titus, Rashida Tlaib, Paul Tonko, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Nikema Williams, Frederica Wilson as cosponsors.

Most bills have a hearing where those involved explain why they are for or against the bill. Roughly 8,000 bills are addressed by committees each year but only about 800 make it to the floor of Congress, according to ushistory.org.

A 2019 report from the Brookings Institute argued committees aren’t capable of delving fully into the issues they address and are forced to rely on lobbyists.