[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 20661]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                    WORKING FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Culberson). Under a previous order of 
the House, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Strickland) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. STRICKLAND. Mr. Speaker, this country is on a wartime footing, 
and I think we should be on a wartime schedule in this House of 
Representatives. The reason I say that is it is 1:15 in the afternoon. 
This House has completed its work for the day. The American people know 
that we left Washington last Wednesday evening. We did not return to 
Washington for session until 6 p.m. this Tuesday. Yesterday we went in 
to session at 10 o'clock in the morning. We finished at about 5 o'clock 
yesterday afternoon. Today we went in session at 10 o'clock. It is now 
only 1:15 in the afternoon, and we have finished for the week and will 
not return to this Chamber to our work until 6 o'clock next Tuesday.
  The reason I think that is unacceptable is the fact that we have yet 
to deal with the airline security legislation. And every day that 
passes, American citizens who get on our airlines, do so without being 
as fully protected as they ought to be.
  I have here today an editorial from the Columbus Dispatch, the major 
newspaper in Columbus, Ohio, which is the capital city of our State. It 
was written on October 16. The editorial says in part: ``Since 
terrorists blew up Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, 
many Americans have assumed that their checked baggage was being X-
rayed. After all, without such a check, how could anyone be certain 
that a bomb hadn't been stowed in the cargo hold?
  As Americans know now, travellers who believe that baggage was 
routinely X-rayed were enjoying a false sense of security.''
  Mr. Speaker, the American people need to know that when they buy a 
ticket and get on a passenger plane in this country today, that it is 
likely that 95 percent of the luggage that is placed into the belly of 
that airline has not been screened for explosive devices. Think about 
that. We are being urged to go back to life in a normal way. We are 
being urged to use the airlines, to travel by air, to fly.
  But the American people have a right to know that today this Congress 
has yet to take action, this House has yet to take action on a bill to 
provide them airline security and, especially, to require that all the 
baggage that is placed in the airplanes that we fly on, that baggage is 
checked for explosives.
  Now, it really puzzles me why the House has not acted. This is 
something the American people absolutely want to have done. The Senate 
more than 2 weeks ago voted 100 to nothing, every Senator of both 
political parties voted to pass this airline security legislation which 
would require the 100 percent check of all the luggage that is placed 
on our airlines. And yet day after day has passed, week after week has 
passed; and the leadership in this House has refused to even allow that 
legislation be brought to this floor for debate and a vote. It is 
unconscionable and the American people have a right to be outraged.
  I would like to share some other comments from this editorial written 
by the Columbus Dispatch on October 16: ``Will there be no end to the 
revelations of how poorly the Federal Government, airport security 
workers and airlines have handled the job of protecting passengers? How 
many other rules aren't being enforced? How much evidence do House 
Republicans need to convince them that only a top notch security force, 
paid by the taxpayers and not hired by the low-bid contractors, will 
make the airways as safe as possible?''
  ``A bill passed by the Senate and pending in the House would 
federalize airport security. The House should stop playing politics 
with this essential legislation and pass it.''
  Those are the words of the Columbus Dispatch.
  Many people are shocked to learn that here in the Washington area at 
the Dulles International Airport, 80 percent or more than 80 percent of 
the people who are responsible for screening our bags for explosive 
devices and making sure that weapons are not taken aboard our airlines, 
80 percent or more are noncitizens. How can we do background checks on 
individuals who are noncitizens?
  Mr. Speaker, this is a matter that deserves immediate attention on 
the part of this House. It is absolutely wrong that on Thursday 
afternoon at 1:20 in the afternoon we would discharge this House until 
6 o'clock next week on Tuesday. It is wrong. The American people will 
not tolerate this continued delay, because their very lives are at 
stake.

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