The House Homeland Security Committee is expected to consider and approve without amendment two bills (H.R. 1955 and H.R. 1413) today, August 1.  H. R. 1955 is designed to help state and local authorities deter “homegrown” terrorism, and H.R. 1413 would establish a trial program to screen workers with access to secure areas at seven airports.

H.R. 1413 follows the congressional outcry over a March 5 incident at Orlando International Airport in Florida, in which two baggage handlers were able to smuggle more than a dozen guns onto a commercial flight bound for Puerto Rico.  The legislation would require at least one of the selected airports to use private screening companies and require at least one to be a lower-traffic facility as determined by the federal government.

H.R. 1955 would begin an investigation into the roots of radicalism and direct the Department of Homeland Security to confer with foreign counterparts on prevention strategies.  Countries such as the United Kingdom have suffered terrorist assaults at the hands of people who have spent most or all of their lives in the countries. 

The Homeland Security Secretary would be required to conduct a survey of foreign strategies to combat homegrown terrorism and report to Congress on the results.  The legislation would establish a temporary commission to analyze the threat and violence based on ideology and report its recommendations for combating such acts to Congress and the President.