The Ranking Member of the House Homeland Security Committee, Bennie G. Thompson, and the Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Henry A. Waxman, jointly sent a letter to President Obama about the recent explosion at the West, Texas fertilizer plant. The letter urged the president to “establish a Blue Ribbon Commission to examine industrial chemical facility security, in light of the recent tragic explosion at the West, Texas fertilizer plant.”

Citing their respective committees’ jurisdiction over the Chemical Facility Anti-terrorism Standards (CFATS) program that is operated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the letter notes, “we have watched the distressing lack of progress in securing these facilities since the program was established nearly six years ago.” Citing an internal audit, a March 2103 DHS Inspector General report, and a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released in May, the letter states that “the program [CFATS] is failing.”