Today, Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28) announced that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has approved the flight of an unmanned aerial vehicle over 1,200 miles of the Texas-Mexico border, in addition to the Texas Gulf Coast. As a result of the decision, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) can now move forward in permanently stationing a remotely-piloted aircraft in Texas. This will be the first UAV based and operated in Texas to help combat illegal activity along the Texas-Mexico border. Read more »

Today, Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism, released the following statement in response to a letter released by the White House Tuesday in which President Obama respectfully requests Congress to approve $600 million worth of specific emergency funding requests for the nation’s southern border, including $297 million to hire 1,000 new border patrol agents, $52.5 million to hire an additional 160 new ICE agents, $37 million for two new unmanned aircraft systems and $201 million for the Department of Justice to help provide critical support along the border: Read more »

Today, Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28) supported the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act to establish a new community bank fund worth $30 billion to increase lending to small businesses looking to hire and expand their operations. Read more »

The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed Wednesday an unprecedented government accountability bill authored by Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28), who championed similar legislation in Texas. The landmark legislation requires unparalleled public reporting from federal agencies four times a year and would make these performance reports available to the public and to Congress. The bipartisan legislation aims to reduce government waste by shining light on how government agencies perform. Read more »

"As lawmakers, our decisions rely on the information we have. Better information yields better results. In order to help eliminate waste in the federal government, we need accurate information on how well federal programs are performing. We need to replace blind faith with factual data, and make use of our power of the purse to invest in what works and fix what doesn’t." Read more »

Members of the Congressional Pro-Trade Caucus (CPTC), a bipartisan coalition dedicated to promoting trade as a tool to spur economic growth and job creation in the United States, hosted a trade policy briefing Wednesday with the Panamanian Ambassador to the United States Jaime Aleman. The meeting was attended by more than a dozen bipartisan members of Congress, including CPTC Chairman Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28). Read more »

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) today announced the success and further expansion of ICE’s Secure Communities strategy to south Texas. Secure Communities utilizes a biometric information-sharing capability to enable ICE to better identify aliens at the time they are fingerprinted and booked on criminal charges. Read more »

Congressman Henry Cuellar and City of McAllen Officials today announced $972,145 for the McAllen Miller International Airport. The total amount comes from the Federal Aviation Administration. The money will be used for design studies, runway rehabilitation, drainage improvements, and wildlife hazard assessments. Read more »

Today, Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism, made the following statement regarding the first unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flight over West Texas on Tuesday, June 1, 2010, by Customs and Border Protection Office of Air and Marine. Today, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed the UAV flight occurred over a portion of West Texas Tuesday. Read more »

Congressmen Henry Cuellar (D-Laredo) and Michael McCaul (R-Austin) had a first-hand look at new technology that would allow federal agents patrolling the borders to disable the engines of boats and land vehicles from a distance without harm to occupants. The technology, developed by Applied Physical Electronics of Spicewood, TX, has the potential to strengthen border and port security by mitigating the risks involved in initial contact between law enforcement and suspected smugglers. Read more »