[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 21960]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



AIRPORT SECURITY IS TOO IMPORTANT AN ISSUE FOR CONGRESS TO JUST FIDDLE 
                                 AROUND

  (Mr. HEFLEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Speaker, what are we waiting for? The Senate, or the 
other body, I should say, passed an airport security bill. The House 
passed a transportation security bill. In these two bills there are 
differences, but we agree on a great deal. We agree that this security 
for transportation should be a Federal responsibility. We agree that 
the Feds should do the background checks. We agree that the Feds should 
screen the applicants. We agree that the Federal Government should do 
the training, and we agree that the Federal Government should do the 
supervision.
  Mr. Speaker, we agree on all of these important issues. Then why do 
we not move? We disagree on whether screeners should be Federal 
employees or should be private employees. Well, in the scope of things, 
this is an insignificant disagreement. What we agree on is that we want 
the job done and we want it much better than it is being done today.
  We should charge the President with the responsibility to get this 
job done, and let him figure out what mix of Federal and civilian and 
private employees there should be. Let us get on with it. It is too 
important for us to fiddle around.

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