TRIBUTE TO BRIAN WHEELER FROM THE TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION; Congressional Record Vol. 166, No. 20
(Extensions of Remarks - January 30, 2020)
Formatting necessary for an accurate reading of this text may be shown by tags (e.g., <DELETED> or <BOLD>) or may be missing from this TXT display. For complete and accurate display of this text, see the PDF.
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E115]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE TO BRIAN WHEELER FROM THE TRANSPORTATION SECURITY
ADMINISTRATION
______
HON. LUCILLE ROYBAL-ALLARD
of california
in the house of representatives
Thursday, January 30, 2020
Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Madam Speaker, the Transportation Security
Administration (TSA) will soon bid farewell to its Senior Advisor for
Congressional Appropriations, Mr. Brian Wheeler. Mr. Wheeler has been
the TSA's liaison to the House Homeland Security Appropriations
Subcommittee for the past 17 years, and will be retiring from the
federal government after nearly 30 years of dedicated service. He will
be greatly missed by his TSA colleagues, as well as by the members and
professional staff of the Homeland Security Appropriations
Subcommittee.
As chairwoman of this subcommittee, and as a member of the
subcommittee since its creation, I am grateful to Mr. Wheeler for his
diligent and reliable work to relay key financial and security matters
to our subcommittee. He has accurately addressed our requests, and
consistently met tight timelines. The information he has provided to us
has been invaluable in our subcommittee's efforts to mitigate future
threats to our nation's transportation systems, including our work to
fund such TSA needs as more advanced detection equipment and crucial
increases in personnel at airport checkpoints across the nation.
Our Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee has greatly
benefited from Mr. Wheeler's commitment, dependability, and experience.
He has provided invaluable insights into the operations of a complex
transportation security system managed by a large domestic agency
sourced with both appropriated funds and mandatory fee revenue. He also
has a keen awareness of the kinds of information appropriators need as
we make informed judgments and decisions about the TSA.
Mr. Wheeler's superb analytical skills, including his graphic and
chartmaking talents, have been essential to our subcommittee's review
of the TSA's annual budget requests, which now exceed $8 billion worth
of budget authority. He translates several hundred pages of budget
submissions into concise summaries. He has built detailed spreadsheets
that have synthesized funding issues into easily understood
programmatic rationales, which has put the subcommittee in a position
to optimize our use of taxpayer dollars by ensuring that only critical
requirements are funded.
Mr. Wheeler has given outstanding service to our subcommittee, the
House, the TSA, and the nation. His professionalism, perception, superb
analytic focus, and technical skills have been invaluable to us. On
behalf of all of us at the Homeland Security Appropriations
Subcommittee, I wish him all the best as he moves into retirement and
the next phase of his life's journey.
____________________