Joel Hefley: “What are we waiting for? The Senate, or the other body, I should say, passed an airport security bill. The House passed…”

“What are we waiting for? The Senate, or the other body, I should say, passed an airport security bill. The House passed a transportation security bill. In these two bills there are differences, but we agree on a great deal. We agree that this security for transportation should be a Federal responsibility. We agree that the Feds should do the background checks. We agree that the Feds should screen the applicants. We agree that the Federal Government should do the training, and we agree that the Federal Government should do the supervision. Mr. Speaker, we agree on all of these important issues. Then why do we not move? We disagree on whether screeners should be Federal employees or should be private employees. Well, in the scope of things, this is an insignificant disagreement. What we agree on is that we want the job done and we want it much better than it is being done today. We should charge the President with the responsibility to get this job done, and let him figure out what mix of Federal and civilian and private employees there should be. Let us get on with it. It is too important for us to fiddle around.”