[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 37 (Wednesday, March 5, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H2157]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               THE BUFFALO NIAGARA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

  (Mr. HIGGINS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. HIGGINS. Madam Speaker, in a recent nationwide realignment, the 
Transportation Security Administration made the decision to consolidate 
all administrative functions for its upstate region at the Albany 
Airport.
  I believe this decision was misguided and illogical. In all of the 
other proposed consolidations around the country, smaller airports are 
being made subordinate to larger airports; but in this case, 
inexplicably, the TSA proposes to make the Buffalo/Niagara Falls 
International Airport subordinate to Albany, despite the fact that 
Buffalo's airport has twice the passenger volume as Albany.
  Furthermore, nearly 40 percent of passengers flying out of Buffalo 
are Canadians and other foreign nationals, which would seem to 
necessitate a more complex TSA operation.
  Mr. Speaker, TSA's rollout of this proposed change has been full of 
inconsistencies and contradictions, and that is why I have asked TSA to 
reconsider this flawed decision and consolidate operations where it 
makes sense, in Buffalo.

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