[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 20450-20451]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                            AIRPORT SECURITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Ramstad) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. RAMSTAD. Mr. Speaker, ground zero is still burning while the 
House is fiddling. Six weeks have passed since terrorists attacked 
America by hijacking four airplanes. Six weeks have passed since that 
deadly day, September 11, 2001, in which terrorists attacked the United 
States of America. Six weeks have passed since nearly 6,000 Americans 
and other people perished in the deadliest day in the history of 
American soil.
  Mr. Speaker, it is high time House leaders let the Members vote on 
the bipartisan aviation security bill, H.R. 2951, which I have 
cosponsored with the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Ganske) and the gentleman 
from New Jersey (Mr. Andrews). It is high time Congress acts to protect 
the American people from future terrorist hijackings.
  We need to pass this bipartisan bill, because it provides the 
flexibility to hire a combination of Federal, State, and local law 
enforcement personnel to

[[Page 20451]]

provide security for our Nation's airports. Airport security, Mr. 
Speaker, should be a law enforcement function, not a minimum wage 
function. Let me repeat that, Mr. Speaker, because that is the bottom 
line that divides us here in the House. That is what this debate is all 
about, and that is why the bill has yet to come to the floor. Airport 
security should be a law enforcement function and not a minimum wage 
function. The American people will not return to flying until they know 
the skies are safe.
  Despite the changes made since September 11, security lapses 
continue. I recently met with several Minneapolis-St. Paul airport 
police officers, airport screeners, and supervisors as well as 
Northwest Airlines pilots and flight attendants. To a person, they all 
told me airport security is still inadequate. I talked to a supervisor 
of screeners, security checkpoint screeners at Dulles Airport, spent 
about a half-hour with this woman, this supervisor, and she said, 
``Congressman, airport security here is a joke. It's not uniform, 80 
percent of our personnel at Dulles are not citizens, 40 percent of them 
don't speak English and don't understand what is expected in terms of 
our security.''
  Mr. Speaker, that was alarming to me and it is certainly not 
reassuring to the American people. Low-paid and undertrained baggage 
screeners and spot checks of passenger luggage are not the solution. 
They are the problem. When the president of a major flight attendants 
union says that flight attendants do not feel safe yet, how can we 
expect the traveling public to feel safe? How can we expect the 
traveling public to return to the airlines?
  We all know that the President has said he will sign our bipartisan 
aviation security bill if we can get it passed in this body. It passed 
the other body 100-to-nothing, unanimously. It is high time to stop the 
delay and pass this bill now.
  Aviation security delayed is aviation security denied.

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