Landrieu To Chair Appropriations Subcommittee On Homeland Securtiy

WASHINGTON – United States Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., announced today that she will chair the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Homeland Security, which is responsible for drafting legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). 

DHS consists of 20 offices and seven sub-agencies. The FY 2010 DHS budget was $55.35 billion, of which $45.95 billion was discretionary.

“Chairing this Subcommittee is a responsibility I look forward to taking on and one I take very seriously,” Sen. 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.

“I come to this job 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.”