WashingtonWire - 2001-10-22

SCREEN PLAY

Republican transportation leaders in the House on Oct. 17 introduced their version of an airline/airport security bill and opted to give flexibility to the President to determine whether the nation's airline security screeners should be federal workers or continue to be contract workers employed by private companies. The House recessed soon after the bill was introduced, due to the escalating anthrax scare on Capitol Hill, and will not return until Oct. 23.

The new security bill, introduced by Reps. Don Young (R-Alaska), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and John Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the aviation subcommittee, attempts to tread a middle ground between backers of a Senate-passed bill, which would make all security screeners government employees and proponents of using contract workers under stricter federal supervision. "This is not about federal versus non-federal employees," Young said. "It's about the best possible security for the traveling public." The Bush Administration already has signaled that it prefers to continue using a private-sector labor force, both to save money and to make it easier to fire poor-performing employees. Young pointed to the so-called European model of federal-private sector coordination for security screening at airports, saying, "If the President and his Administration determine that the European model is best for America, our bill allows him to do so. But our bill is also flexible, because if the President determines that every one of the screeners should be government workers, our bill allows him to do so."

Other provisions in the Young-Mica bill would require the deployment of federal air marshals, require cockpit doors to be strengthened, charge passengers a fee of no more than $2.50 on each one-way trip to cover the cost of the security screening, require federal or state law enforcement personnel at each screening location, establish an aviation oversight board and establish a new Transportation Security Administration within the U.S. Department of Transportation that would be responsible for security for all modes of transportation.

Democrats on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee already have introduced their version of an aviation security bill. Similar to the Senate-passed bill, the Transportation Security Enhancement Act of 2001 calls for the federalization of screeners. The House Democratic bill, however, calls for DOT to be responsible for screening passengers, not the U.S. Department of Justice as the Senate bill does. The Senate on Oct. 13 passed S. 1447, the Aviation Security Act, by a vote of 100-0. The measure states that screening of passengers and baggage at all airports larger than non-hubs would be conducted by federal government personnel. Screening at non-hubs would be conducted by trained state or local law enforcement personnel. Non-hubs would be reimbursed for the costs of providing the law enforcement personnel required for screening. Also, a $2.50 fee would be charged each passenger to pay for additional costs of security screeners and other new security requirements and random placement of air marshals would be required on domestic and international flights. The bill authorizes the use of other federal law enforcement officials until the air marshal program is fully functional. Additionally, the Federal Aviation Administration would be required to issue an emergency order to strengthen flight deck doors and locks, require that flight deck doors remain locked during flight and prohibit access to the flight deck.