Darrell Issa: “I do not come often to the well of the House, but today I feel it is essential that I address both my fellow colleagues…”

“I do not come often to the well of the House, but today I feel it is essential that I address both my fellow colleagues here today and the American people because we are now in the process of considering airport security. And the debate, in my opinion, has degenerated to do we, in fact, hire Federal workers or do we hire non-Federal workers when, in fact, the House of Representatives and the Senate clearly agree on two things that are existing today. One is that we need to up and improve the standards; secondly, that the existing contractors who are doing the job today, that is supposed to result in our safety in the air, are not doing their job properly. Only yesterday when Chicago was proven to be a hopeless sieve, and other cities when it was shown that these workers, many of them, most of them not citizens, operated by a foreign corporation that does not even ensure that the background checks are done, even after paying a huge fine, they continue to not do the background checks. They continue to not meet the requirements that will lead to America's safety. I get on an airplane virtually every week. I have over 100,000 miles this year alone going back and forth to my district. I as much as any other member of this great Nation have a vested interest in airline safety, as do all of my colleagues here today and on the other side of the House. There is no question that we must act and act immediately.”