John Mica: “when all else fails, why do we not consult the facts? We have heard Members stand up and say that we would not contract…”

“when all else fails, why do we not consult the facts? We have heard Members stand up and say that we would not contract out security responsibilities. Mr. Speaker, I will submit that 26 Federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, Department of Justice, Department of State, Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, our nuclear plants, all contracted out 26 Federal agencies. The list goes on. Mr. Speaker, this deals with facts. In fact, we do contract this out. We are not asking for any different level. Mr. Speaker, I ask Members to please not come before the Congress and the American people and tell them that we are protecting those private screening companies that are now doing their job. We take this responsibility away from the airlines, we make it a Federal responsibility. It is federally managed, it is federally supervised. There are Federal background checks. There is Federal testing. Most importantly, there is Federal oversight. The Israelis, the Europeans, tried the federalize-all-public-employees method, and what did they do? They eventually evolved into a public-private partnership where the government sets the high standards, and that is what we have proposed. Mr. Speaker, let us deal with the facts. The facts are, this piece of legislation proposed and hastily passed by the Senate creates a two-tier disastrous system, part in the Department of Justice, part in the Department of Transportation.”