[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 41 (Thursday, March 13, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S3721]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               ARMING CARGO PILOTS AGAINST TERRORISM ACT

  Mr. BUNNING. Mr. President, I rise to thank my colleagues on the 
Senate Commerce Committee for unanimously passing the language of the 
Arming Cargo Pilots Terrorism Act as an amendment to the Air Cargo 
Security Act.
  As was made so terribly clear on September 11, 2001, we must be ready 
for terrorist threats in places and times we never before thought we 
would. Congress has acted deliberately to increase our security and 
make it harder for terrorists to repeat the destruction of September 
11.
  One step Congress took was to arm pilots of commercial aircraft who 
volunteered for a rigorous training program. At the last minute, 
commercial cargo pilots were left out of the program while their 
counterparts flying for commercial passenger carriers were armed. That 
makes no sense because cargo pilots fly the same planes with the same 
or larger fuel loads as the passenger aircraft that were hijacked on 
September 11.
  Last week, I introduced the Arming Cargo Pilots Against Terrorism Act 
to close that dangerous loophole. Today, Senator Boxer offered our bill 
as an amendment in the Commerce Committee and it passed unanimously. I 
thank her for all her hard work on this issue and I thank the Commerce 
Committee for acting expeditiously.
  I am hopeful this bill soon become law and the loophole will be 
closed. We need to protect our cargo pilots and the general public from 
any possible threat.

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