Joe Lieberman: “this is one of those rare occasions when the Senator from Maine and I disagree. I appreciate the fact that Senator…”

“this is one of those rare occasions when the Senator from Maine and I disagree. I appreciate the fact that Senator Collins is trying to find a middle ground in this contentious debate. She gives the Transportation Screening Officers at TSA some employee rights but not the right to collectively bargain, which most employees in the Department of Homeland Security, and throughout our Government has. Presumably, the contention is that the right to collective bargaining would interfere with the security responsibility of the agencies, but TSA in the underlying bill and under Senator McCaskill's amendment would have absolute authority to take whatever actions are needed to carry out its mission in an emergency without bargaining with any units, without even considering any collective bargaining agreement. The fact is that Federal security forces generally have the right to collectively bargain: Border Patrol agents, immigration officers, Customs, Federal Protective Services, and the U.S. Capitol Police. Those collective bargaining rights do not interfere with their protection of our security, nor would those rights for TSOs at TSA.”