5. Department of Homeland Security · Minor · Needs Congress
Streamline DHS's congressional reporting requirements
Printed page 161 5. Department of Homeland Security
“PLCY should work with Congress to streamline the department's reporting requirements. Because there has not been a departmental reauthorization bill and these requirements have been added piecemeal over two decades, they significantly overlap and even conflict—wasting resources and distracting from the department's mission.”
What has happened
- Not started
Congress moved the other way. No statute, bill or DHS-Congress agreement streamlining the department's reporting requirements was found; instead the House passed H.R. 8874, the Homeland Security Capabilities Preservation Reporting Act of 2026, which amends the FY2023 National Defense Authorization Act to require recurring reports on jurisdictions losing Urban Area Security Initiative eligibility. It was received in the Senate and referred to Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on 2026-07-14. Nothing found reduces or consolidates the reporting load the Quote describes.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
Not started, because the record moved the other way; that action is cited as Evidence with the Status. Enrolled text of H.R. 8874 read at govinfo in the engrossed-in-House version.
This rests on the one negative search we ran for the asks on DHS congressional relations and reporting requirements. Paired with #436, which asks the executive half of the same question (stop reporting on outdated requirements, sunset the rest) and is also not started. There has still been no DHS authorization bill, which is the premise the Quote itself gives for the overlap it complains about.
- Action
- eliminate
- Object
- DHS congressional reporting requirements
- ID
- 421