[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 150 (Wednesday, November 17, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1951]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


             INTRODUCING THE AMERICAN TRAVELER DIGNITY ACT

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                             HON. RON PAUL

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 17, 2010

  Mr. PAUL. Madam Speaker, today I introduce legislation to protect 
Americans from physical and emotional abuse by Federal Transportation 
Security Administration employees conducting screenings at the Nation's 
airports. We have seen the videos of terrified children being grabbed 
and probed by airport screeners. We have read the stories of Americans 
being subjected to humiliating body imaging machines and/or forced to 
have the most intimate parts of their bodies poked and fondled. We do 
not know the potentially harmful effects of the radiation emitted by 
the new millimeter wave machines.
  In one recent well-publicized case, a TSA official is recorded during 
an attempted body search saying, ``By buying your ticket you gave up a 
lot of rights.'' I strongly disagree and am sure I am not alone in 
believing that we Americans should never give up our rights in order to 
travel. As our Declaration of Independence states, our rights are 
inalienable. This TSA version of our rights looks more like the 
``rights'' granted in the old Soviet Constitutions, where freedoms were 
granted to Soviet citizens--right up to the moment the state decided to 
remove those freedoms.
  The incident of the so-called ``underwear bomber'' last Christmas is 
given as justification for the billions of dollars the federal 
government is spending on the new full-body imaging machines, but a 
Government Accountability Office study earlier this year concluded that 
had these scanners been in use they may not have detected the explosive 
material that was allegedly brought onto the airplane. Additionally, 
there have been recent press reports calling into question the accuracy 
and adequacy of these potentially dangerous machines.
  My legislation is simple. It establishes that airport security 
screeners are not immune from any U.S. law regarding physical contact 
with another person, making images of another person, or causing 
physical harm through the use of radiation-emitting machinery on 
another person. It means they are subject to the same laws as the rest 
of us.
  Imagine if the political elites in our country were forced to endure 
the same conditions at the airport as business travelers, families, 
senior citizens, and the rest of us. Perhaps this problem could be 
quickly resolved if every cabinet secretary, every Member of Congress, 
and every department head in the Obama administration were forced to 
submit to the same degrading screening process as the people who pay 
their salaries.
  I warned at the time of the creation of the TSA that an unaccountable 
government entity in control of airport security would provide neither 
security nor defend our basic freedom to travel. Yet the vast majority 
of both Republicans and Democrats then in Congress willingly voted to 
create another unaccountable, bullying agency--in a simple-minded and 
unprincipled attempt to appease public passion in the wake of 9-11. 
Sadly, as we see with the steady TSA encroachment on our freedom and 
dignity, my fears in 2001 were justified.
  The solution to the need for security at U.S. airports is not a 
government bureaucracy. The solution is to allow the private sector, 
preferably the airlines themselves, to provide for the security of 
their property. As a recent article in Forbes magazine eloquently 
stated, ``The airlines have enormous sums of money riding on passenger 
safety, and the notion that a government bureaucracy has better 
incentives to provide safe travels than airlines with billions of 
dollars worth of capital and goodwill on the line strains 
credibility.'' In the meantime, I hope we can pass this legislation and 
protect Americans from harm and humiliation when they choose to travel.

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