Oregon representatives met with pilots, flight attendants and airport employees Monday at the Portland International Airport to urge immediate action on aviation security legislation. The legislation aims to make airports safer by putting the federal government in charge of airport security and charging each passenger a surcharge of $2.50.
Reps. Peter DeFazio, D-Eugene, Earl Blumenauer, D-Portland, and Darlene Hooley, D-Salem, called the press conference to draw attention to difficulties facing the Comprehensive Aviation Security Bill in the House of Representatives. The bill passed unanimously in the Senate last week, but Republican leaders in the House have blocked discussion of the Senate’s version of the bill, said Kristie Greco, spokeswoman for Peter DeFazio.
The House is working on its own version of the bill, said Jonathan Grella, spokesman for Tom DeLay, R-Tex. The Senate version stipulates a federal takeover of airport security, while the House version of the bill, called the Young bill, would give the president discretion to choose between the private sector and the federal government for security on a case-by-case basis, Grella said.
President Bush has voiced support for the House’s version of the bill but has indicated he will not oppose a bill that requires screening workers to be federal employees, said Lisa Wade Raasch, spokeswoman for Sen. Ron Wyden’s office.
The bill will likely be discussed in a joint committee once the House passes their own version, which might go through by the end of the week, Grella said.
“The Senate was anxious to get the political hot potato off their lap and hastily voted,” Grella said. “(The House) wants to explore this issue. (Senators) are more interested in window dressing than keeping people safe.”
Supporters for the Senate’s version stressed that a federal takeover is the only way to keep the country safe. Raasch said that many of the security companies fail to conduct background checks on security screeners and often have turnover rates higher than 120 percent a year.
Security companies such as Argenbright have come under fire for lax safety measures. NPR news reported Monday night that screening workers routinely miss up to 20 percent of dangerous objects carried by passengers.
“Private screening companies like Argenbright should no longer be allowed to provide security for the front line of defense at our nation’s airports,” DeFazio said. He noted that the company has been fined $1.6 million by the federal government for sloppy hiring practices and lying to federal officials.
House Republicans favor legislation that would give the president control over the security situation. Grella cited hijackings in Western Europe when some countries’ aviation security was federally operated. There were 31 hijackings in Western Europe in the 1970s when some countries had nationalized security systems. In the 1990s, Grella said, Western European countries implemented a partnership between the private sector and the government; four hijackings occurred that decade.
Democrats in the House remained firm in their support for federalized security.
“Right now we’re trusting the front line to convicted felons and minimum wage employees,” Greco said.
Both the House’s and Senate’s bills establish an undersecretary of transportation security that would ensure safety in the airports. The undersecretary would have the authority to issue emergency security rules without a cost-benefit analysis.
“The price of keeping airports safe is $2.50 a ticket,” Blumenauer said. “It’s less than a latté.”