[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 121 (Tuesday, September 11, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H5824-H5826]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1650
                      NO-HASSLE FLYING ACT OF 2012

  Mr. WALSH of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the bill (H.R. 6028) to authorize the Assistant Secretary of 
Homeland Security (Transportation Security Administration) to modify 
screening requirements for checked baggage arriving from preclearance 
airports, and for other purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 6028

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``No-Hassle Flying Act of 
     2012''.

     SEC. 2. PRECLEARANCE AIRPORTS.

       (a) In General.--Section 44901(d) of title 49, United 
     States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following 
     new paragraph:
       ``(4) Preclearance airports.--
       ``(A) In general.--For a flight or flight segment 
     originating at an airport outside the United States and 
     traveling from an airport outside the United States where 
     U.S. Customs and Border Protection has established 
     preclearance operations, the Assistant Secretary 
     (Transportation Security Administration) may, in coordination 
     with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, determine whether 
     such baggage must be re-screened in the United States by an 
     explosives detection system before such baggage continues on 
     any additional flight or flight segment.
       ``(B) Limitation.--The Assistant Secretary may not exercise 
     the authority under subparagraph (A) unless an agreement is 
     in effect between the United States and the country from 
     which the flight originates requiring the implementation of 
     security standards and protocols that are determined by the 
     Assistant Secretary in coordination with U.S. Customs and 
     Border Protection to be comparable to those of the United 
     States and therefore sufficiently effective to enable 
     passengers to deplane into sterile areas of airports in the 
     United States.
       ``(C) Report.--The Assistant Secretary shall submit to the 
     Committee on Homeland Security of the House of 
     Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and 
     Governmental Affairs of the Senate an annual report on the 
     re-screening of baggage under this paragraph. Each such 
     report shall include the following for the year covered by 
     the report:
       ``(i) A list of airports outside the United States from 
     which a flight or flight segment traveled to the United 
     States for which the Assistant Secretary determined, in 
     accordance with the authority under subparagraph (A), that 
     checked baggage was not required to be re-screened in the 
     United States by an explosive detection system before such 
     baggage continued on an additional flight or flight segment.
       ``(ii) The amount of Federal savings generated from the 
     exercise of such authority.''.
       (b) Conforming Amendments.--Section 44901 of title 49, 
     United States Code, is amended by striking ``explosive'' each 
     place it appears and inserting ``explosives''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Walsh) and the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Illinois.
  Mr. WALSH of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.


                             General Leave

  Mr. WALSH of Illinois. I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Illinois?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. WALSH of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, earlier this year I introduced 
H.R. 6028, the No-Hassle Flying Act, which is a very simple bill that 
streamlines baggage security measures for international flights.
  Over the past decade, the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol has 
designated 14 international airports as preclearance airports. They are 
located in Canada, the Caribbean, and Ireland, and continue to exhibit 
comparable security standards to ours right here in the United States. 
When passengers originate from one of these airports and fly into the 
U.S., they are not required to go through security again because they 
have already been fully vetted. Unfortunately, an ambiguity in U.S. law 
does not exempt their bags as well.
  U.S. law today requires all baggage entering the United States to be 
rescreened by a TSA agent, regardless of where it originates. That 
means that passengers, often on short or late-night layovers, must exit 
security, claim their bags from baggage claim, recheck them, and go 
through security again. This double security does not equal double 
safety. It equals missed flights, more hassles, and it wastes taxpayer 
dollars.
  Therefore, all this bill does is give CBP and TSA the authority to 
exempt baggage coming from one of those 14 preclearance airports from 
being rescreened as well. This issue was brought to my attention by 
TSA, and H.R. 6028 has come together with a great deal of their help.

[[Page H5825]]

  I would like to also especially thank the staffs of Representatives 
Thompson and Sheila Jackson Lee for helping improve upon this bill. 
With their help, H.R. 6028 has been redrafted to clarify the intent of 
the bill, which is that baggage originating only from preclearance 
airports can enter the United States without being rescreened.
  As TSA and CBP gravitate toward more efficient risk-based security 
measures instead of 100 percent blanket checks, this type of bipartisan 
legislation will make that process easier. It will also save travelers 
time and allow security officers to focus on higher-risk baggage from 
overseas locations.
  I also want to thank Subcommittee Chairman Rogers and his staff for 
their assistance on this bill.
  I urge Members to vote in support. I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 
6028, the No-Hassle Flying Act of 2012, and yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, while I support the legislation we are considering 
today, I'm concerned that on this, the anniversary of the terrorist 
attack of September 11, we are not considering a bipartisan package of 
legislation.
  On this day, 11 years ago, our country was attacked and came together 
like never before to face the immense challenges of rebuilding and 
restructuring our security systems. With the creation of the 9/11 
Commission, the Transportation Security Administration and, ultimately, 
the Department of Homeland Security, we demonstrated that homeland 
security is an American issue, not a partisan one.
  Why then, I must ask, are we not considering a bipartisan package of 
legislative proposals that have previously received the unanimous 
support of the Committee on Homeland Security?
  Why is this bill, which never received committee consideration, being 
put on the House floor ahead of H.R. 1165, the Transportation Security 
Administration Ombudsman Act? That bill, introduced by Representative 
Jackson Lee, received the unanimous support of the Committee on 
Homeland Security. Despite that, it has sat idle on the Union Calendar 
for over 10 months.
  Why are we not considering H.R. 6328, a thoughtful proposal 
introduced by Representative Hochul that would require TSA to transfer 
unclaimed clothing found at security checkpoints to veterans in need? 
With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that were fought in the aftermath 
of 9/11 over and coming to an end, respectively, I could think of no 
more appropriate legislation for this body to consider today than a 
bill aimed at supporting our veterans.
  Mr. Speaker, I support the bill we are considering today because it 
is a commonsense proposal that will make air travel more convenient for 
a select few and has the potential to enhance efficiencies. When we can 
eliminate duplicative screening without compromising security, I will 
lend my support.
  Accordingly, I support this legislation that the Obama administration 
proposed and the gentleman from Illinois, Representative Walsh 
introduced.
  With that, Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. WALSH of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I'm prepared to close. I reserve 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I yield for as much time as 
she may consume to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).
  Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. Let me thank the ranking member for his 
courtesies of extending the time, and let me acknowledge the gentleman 
from Illinois for the work on this bill and working with my office.
  At the first glance, though, this has been proposed by the Obama 
administration, one would wonder why we were lessening any oversight 
over baggage. But this is a process that I think is in compliance with 
all of our commitment to safety and security.
  And, in particular, on this day, I do appreciate the fact that there 
are certain airports which this will cover, that this responds in 
particular to friends to the north of us, Canada, which has the most 
sophisticated technology, and a number of other airports.
  Also, I think, because of the oversight of the Secretary of Homeland 
Security, in case there is a need to review this particular process 
which allows for a bag of an entering person to continue on with them 
as they come into the country going on to their domestic location. This 
is, again, an item of trust, but also an item of technology and an item 
of oversight.
  This is an administrative proposal that came by way of the White 
House in order to establish an administrative process to which the 
flying public can travel with minimum security disruption.
  I always emphasize, however, the importance of ensuring in the most--
the highest of responsibilities, the security of this Nation. I believe 
that we, as Congress, have the responsibility to ensure that aviation 
security is not compromised through any efforts that ease travel for 
the flying public.
  The Obama administration has taken great strides in enhancing our 
transportation security, particularly that in aviation. Although Osama 
bin Laden, as I've repeated before on this floor, is dead, the threat 
to our aviation safety and security continues to evolve because we're 
well aware of franchise terrorism. Not only did the administration lead 
a successful attack to remove one of the most dangerous terrorists in 
the world, the Obama administration has also taken significant steps to 
enhance policies that protect the American flying public.
  In December, the Department will successfully meet a Congressional 
cargo screening mandate of screening 100 percent cargo aboard passenger 
flights traveling in the United States and those inbound to the United 
States from foreign countries. This is a noteworthy accomplishment, 
since several in Washington, D.C., touted that it could not be done. 
It's a day of celebration. It's something that the 9/11 families 
welcome.
  Today marks 11 years since we experienced the devastating loss of 
life, and 9/11 marked all of our lives by exposing doubts. But as I 
indicated in my earlier statement, this is a great country, and of 
course we continue to emphasize not only our democracy, but our rights, 
along with our security.
  There's no doubt today that we are resilient and that we are 
survivors. Let's not forget the progress we've made in transportation 
security policies, and we must continue to support measures that take 
us forward.
  That is why I support H.R. 6028 and ask that my colleagues do so, 
because not only does it help to expedite, it helps to be efficient, 
but it is in conjunction with security. That is the right step and a 
collaborative way that we can work together.
  Again, I ask support for this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 6028, The No-Hassle Flying Act of 2012. grants the 
Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security (Transportation Security 
Administration [TSA]) discretion to determine whether checked baggage 
on a flight or flight segment originating at an airport outside the 
United States must be re-screened in the United States for explosives 
before it can continue on any additional flight or flight segment if 
the baggage has already been screened in the foreign airport in 
accordance with an aviation security preclearance agreement between the 
United States and the country in which the airport is located.


                      Tuesday, September 11, 2012

  Mr. Speaker, I stand here today in support of this legislation we are 
considering today.
  H.R. 6028 came to this chamber as an administrative proposal by the 
White House in order to establish an administrative process through 
which the flying public can travel with minimal security disruption.
  I believe that we, as Congress, have the responsibility to ensure 
that aviation security is not compromised through any efforts that ease 
travel for the flying public.
  The Obama Administration has taken great strides in enhancing our 
transportation security, particularly that in aviation.
  Although Osama bin Laden is dead, the threat to our aviation safety 
and security continues to evolve. Not only did this Administration lead 
a successful attack to remove one of the most dangerous terrorists in 
the world, the Obama Administration has also taken significant steps to 
enhance policies that protect the American flying public.
  In December, the Department will successfully meet a Congressional 
cargo-screening mandate of screening 100% cargo aboard passenger 
flights traveling in the United States and those inbound to the United 
States from foreign countries.
  This is a noteworthy accomplishment; since several in Washington, DC 
touted that this could not be done.

[[Page H5826]]

  Today marks 11 years since we experienced a devastating loss of life.
  9/11 marked all of our lives by surfacing doubts of our resiliency as 
a Country.
  There is no doubt, today, that we are resilient and that we are 
survivors. Let's not forget the progress we have made in transportation 
security policies and we must continue to support measures that take us 
forward and provide a more safe and secure transportation for all 
Americans.
  That is why I support H.R. 6028 and ask that my colleagues do the 
same.

                              {time}  1700

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I have no more speakers. If 
the gentleman from Illinois has no more speakers, then I am prepared to 
close.
  Mr. WALSH of Illinois. I have no more speakers.
  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, on this day above all others, we turn our thoughts to 
those who were lost in the tragic events of 9/11. It is unfortunate 
that the House has missed the opportunity today to consider 
noncontroversial Homeland Security legislation introduced by both 
Democrats and Republicans, thus showing that on 9/11 we put partisan 
politics aside and focused on doing the right thing.
  Before closing, I would like to extend my congratulations to the 
gentleman from Illinois, Representative Walsh, for having bills on the 
floor for consideration for the first time today. I suspect that he is 
as surprised as I am that one of his first bills to reach the floor was 
proposed to Congress by the Obama administration.
  With that, Mr. Speaker, I urge the passage of this proposal from the 
Obama administration, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. WALSH of Illinois. I thank the ranking member.
  I urge all Members, Mr. Speaker, to join me in support of this 
bipartisan bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Walsh) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 6028, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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