[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 112 (Friday, July 26, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H8562]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      AIRPORT SECURITY NEEDED NOW

  (Mr. BURTON of Indiana asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker in 1990, we passed the Aviation 
Security Improvement Act, which was supposed to protect people in 
airports getting on their airplanes. It was supposed to deal with the 
possibility of detecting plastic explosives, which could kill a lot of 
people like that which happened in New York just a few short days ago. 
The problem is it did not work. It has not worked and since 1990, 
nothing really has been done.
  They said by 1993 we would have devices at every airport, especially 
the international airports, to detect these plastic explosives. It has 
not happened, and now we have lost 230 some people over the Atlantic.
  We need to put dogs at the airports that have the ability to sniff 
out plastic explosives. We use them in this Chamber, in the Capitol of 
the United States, and it will work at the airports.
  The cost is very small compared to the machines we are talking about. 
Those machines could cost up to $2.2 billion. To put dogs at 50 
airports costs about $4 million a year, and we could do it right away. 
We do not need to mess around. If we are going to protect the flying 
public in this country, we need to do it now.
  Mr. Speaker, I have introduced a bill to this effect, and I hope all 
of my colleagues will cosponsor it.

                          ____________________