[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 148 (Wednesday, October 31, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H7533]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             U.S. NEEDS FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AT AIRPORTS

  (Mr. DeFAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, it has been 7 weeks and 1 day since the 
terrorist attacks and more than 2 weeks since the Senate passed 
legislation 100 to 0, which was just referred to by one of my 
colleagues as a partisan bill. I thought the Senate had 49 Republicans 
and 51 Democrats. How could a 100 to 0 vote be partisan? We are still 
waiting in the House for needed legislation for aviation security 
because of one objection raised by a couple of the Republican leaders.
  The Federal law enforcement officers would provide screening for 
passengers and baggage. Guess what? When it comes to security for 
Members of Congress, for those same Members of Congress objecting to 
this, private security is not good enough. We have uniformed Federal 
law enforcement officers, but when it comes to the traveling public, it 
has to be the private, for-profit sector, that has been failing 
miserably. The largest in the country, Argenbright, is under criminal 
indictment for the second time in 2 years for hiring and maintaining 
known felons on staff and falsifying documents; and they say, Oh, well, 
the Federal Government will regulate these firms.
  We have been trying to regulate them. We are prosecuting them in 
Federal court. We are fining them millions of dollars. It cannot work. 
We need Federal law enforcement at the airports.

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