[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 22596]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                  TIME TO FEDERALIZE AIRPORT SECURITY

  (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, we need airport security, we want airport 
security, and we must have airport security.
  When I say that, I do not mean Argenbright Security. Did we ever hear 
a worse oxymoron than using the term ``Argenbright'' and ``security'' 
in the same sentence? How can one claim to be a security company and 
let a man get through with seven knives, a can of Mace, and a stun gun? 
That is not security.
  How can airlines keep hiring this company? Southwest and United up in 
Baltimore just hired them again to manage their security. How can 
anyone put confidence in a company that has repeatedly been fined for 
violations? How can anyone put confidence in a company that either does 
not do background checks or does them in such a shoddy way that felons 
can slip through their screening? How can anyone put confidence in a 
company when they are hiring new immigrants from the Third World to do 
their security checking?
  What we are doing is not working. We need a change. The first change 
we need is to recognize that airport security is a Federal 
responsibility. Now, whether they are all Federal employees or not is 
not the point, but it is a Federal responsibility.
  The other body needs to stop stonewalling and negotiate in good faith 
and get us an airport security bill today. The American public is 
losing its patience.

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