Driving the conversation as the House of Representatives returns to work this week is Washington's response to the attempted bombing of an airliner headed for Detroit on Christmas Day.
Though he does not serve on a committee examining the incident, Eden Prairie Republican Rep. Erik Paulsen took an official trip this spring to Yemen, home of the terrorist group that claimed responsibility for the plot, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
"Unfortunately I was not surprised there was a Yemen connection, given what we were told," Paulsen said in an interview last week. "I heard serious concerns about the precarious situation that existed in Yemen at that time."
Part of the bi-partisan CODEL consisted of meeting with the U.S. ambassador to the region and visiting the U.S. embassy there, which had been attacked only months earlier.
"We were told pretty directly that there were concerns about making sure that the Yemen government was going to be reliable for the longterm," Paulsen said. "Because we were told the government's long-term vision is usually two to three months, they're not very forward thinking."
Officials also referenced the growing threat posed by terrorist groups like Al Qaeda, which was formed after a major jailbreak in Yemen several years ago.
"I guess I am surprised that someone with the background that this individual had -- or the watchlist he was put on -- was even able to get on the plane in the first place," he added.
