Political Quotes

“I thank the chairman for yielding to me. Let me just try to clarify the record. The information I have on the number of screeners from our investigative staff director is 49,553 screeners. That is the figure given to us by TSA. The number of screeners is 49,553. The other point, too, when I said 3,700 administrative personnel, I'm talking about TSA bureaucrats here. I'm not talking about screening force. Not one screener am I including in that. I'm just talking about TSA headquarters or TSA administrative personnel making, on average, $105,000 a year. Now I'm not talking about the screeners. These poor screeners, some of the screeners are starting at the lowest wage. The money isn't going for professional screeners, although this bill, I understand the average pay is about, if you calculate $3 billion divided by 49,000, you come close to $60,000, and there are costs for benefits and all that, I grant you. But let me just try to make the record clear, again: We have 3,700 administrative TSA people in the headquarters or associated here in the Washington area, not screeners.”