Once-promising legislative efforts to renew a Homeland Security Department program designed to secure chemical facilities from terrorist attacks and thefts have been put on hold, after an internal document revealed deep-seated implementation problems.

At issue is DHS's Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program, which was launched in 2006 and has relied on year-to-year funding in the appropriations process.

A long-term extension appeared to be in the works on Capitol Hill last year, as bills to re-up the program for several years were introduced and approved by committees in both the House and Senate.

But Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the sponsor of the Senate bill (S. 473), yesterday said she is holding off from pressing the measure while DHS investigates an internal report that found significant deficiencies in the program.

"We are waiting to some further answers from the internal review," Collins said.

The report, obtained by Fox News in late December, found that the CFATS program has yet to conduct any compliance inspections and has only begun approving security plans. However, the report indicated that the Obama administration, DHS leadership and Congress are being led to believe the program is working as it should (Greenwire, Dec. 23, 2011).

Before the holiday recess, Collins tried to "hotline" her bill, which would reauthorize CFATS largely as it exists now for three years. But that effort to pass the measure by unanimous consent did not work, and since the Fox News report, Collins has been vocal about the need for an investigation.

Similarly, the House leadership appears to be punting two bills that would reauthorize CFATS for seven years. The Energy and Commerce Committee is locked in a jurisdictional battle with the Homeland Security Committee over whose bill would be brought to the floor.

Earlier this week, the Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over CFATS, was given an extension to review the Homeland Security bill (H.R. 901). The Homeland Security measure would strip Energy and Commerce of its jurisdiction.

The Energy and Commerce Committee now has until March to look at the legislation.

Committee staffers speculated that the extension is an omen that neither that bill nor the Energy and Commerce legislation (H.R. 908) would make it to the House floor this year.

There also may not be much urgency among House GOP leaders to schedule a vote on either bill because CFATS is currently authorized through October.

Christine Sanchez of the Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates (SOCMA), which has been closely tracking the legislation, said the extension shows that Energy and Commerce wants to keep jurisdiction over the program.

She also said the committees will likely want to take a much closer look at how CFATS is being implemented.

"It is safe to assume that the committees with jurisdiction over chemical security will want to hold oversight hearings on the program to assess the scope of the administrative problems and what steps DHS plans to take to address them," Sanchez said.

Sanchez said SOCMA continues to support a long-term extension of CFATS and that the additional scrutiny "is not necessarily a bad thing."

"In fact," she said, "It can be an opportunity to draw the attention and resources directed at fixing them, and quickly."

She hopes, however, that lawmakers will focus on addressing the implementation issues cited in the internal report, not the standards themselves, which she called a successful regulatory program.

Scott Jensen of the American Chemistry Council added that industry had hoped long-term reauthorization language would have been passed last year because of the calendar constraints posed in an election year.

"Everybody knew going into this year with the elections that it was going to be a tough year with the legislative calendar," Jensen said. "That being said, our position is unchanged that we would still like to see a long-term extension for CFATS."