[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 144 (Thursday, October 25, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H7312]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
AMERICA NEEDS AIRLINE SECURITY BILL
(Mr. MORAN of Virginia asked and was given permission to address the
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, we need an airport security bill.
This is not a partisan issue. I share completely the views of my
colleague, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf), who is the chairman
of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State and the Judiciary that
appropriates money.
Mr. Speaker, we know what happened a few years ago in Northern
Virginia. A Pakistani by the name of Mir Aimal Kasi walked up to
several people sitting in line to turn in to the CIA, and brutally
murdered them. Reached in with an assault weapon and killed them. It
took years, but we found him. His roommate was a baggage screener at
Dulles Airport. 87 percent of these people hired by Argenbright, who
does the baggage screening at National Airport and Dulles Airport, are
not U.S. citizens.
How can we do a background check on someone who is not a U.S.
citizen, and many are illegal aliens, and they are doing the passenger
and baggage screening at our airports? It is not working. The airlines
have looked for the bottom line, the cheapest people who will work for
the least amount of money. We need to federalize and professionalize
them.
____________________