Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. I thank my colleagues from Florida and Mississippi for this good debate. Let me answer their question directly to the point. They talk about priorities, national security. But this amendment only applies to TSA employees. It doesn't apply to other Federal employees or other members of Homeland Security. If this amendment was really about national security, you ought to have it apply to all Federal employees, not just TSA employees. That is why this is a red herring. Bottom line, again, I am going to repeat: Section 7106 of title 5 grants to administrators of these agencies the power to ``take whatever actions may be necessary to carry out the agency mission during emergencies.'' Bottom line, this is an antiunion amendment. It is unnecessary and insulting to the dedicated professional employees of the Transportation Security Administration. TSA employees should not be treated differently from other Federal agency workers who have the right to collectively bargain. Those advocating for this antiunion amendment forget that for the Border Patrol agents and the Bureau of Prisons employees who have similar security and screening functions, they are also unionized. TSA itself has told us many times that this bill does not create security problems. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to reject this amendment, just as my colleagues did when it was rejected in committee. I yield back the balance of my time. The SPEAKER pro tempore.…”