Wagner Amendments to Homeland Security Appropriations Bill Approved by House

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Ann Wagner (R-MO) released the following statement after two of her amendments to the Homeland Security Appropriations bill were adopted by the U.S. House:

The first amendment would prioritize $24 million for Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) investigations.

Rep. Wagner said: “Last year, there were over 32 million reports of online child sexual abuse material, previously referred to as ‘child pornography.’ That’s an 89% increase since 2019 and equals over 87,000 reports per day of images and videos of children being raped and sexually exploited spreading across the internet.  HSI is on the front lines fighting to locate and rescue vulnerable children and apprehend their abusers, which is why my amendment takes $24 million from bloated bureaucratic offices and ensures that HSI receives the resources needed to investigate these unconscionable crimes.”

Watch Rep. Wagner’s remarks on this amendment here.

The second amendment would require Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to resolve the Global Entry application backlog.

Rep. Wagner said: “I have heard from so many frustrated constituents who have paid for Global Entry only to wait months, in some cases, for CBP to approve them for an interview.  Today, Global Entry processing times average 11 months. This is utterly unacceptable. This amendment will direct CBP to do its job and get this situation and backlog under control.”

Watch Rep. Wagner’s remarks on this amendment here.