On the recordMay 19, 2016
if there is one specialty that every Member of Congress has, it is air travel. We spend more time on airplanes, more time in airports, more time waiting for flights and worrying about flights than most other Americans. As Members of Congress, we are veterans of air travel. We have all seen the footage of people waiting to go through security screening at major airports, particularly in the city of Chicago at both O'Hare and Midway. The lines are so long that people have had to wait 2 to 3 hours--2 to 3 hours to go through a security checkpoint. People are angry, and I don't blame them. Thousands of people have missed their flights, and some were stuck sleeping in airports overnight. The commissioner of aviation, Ginger Evans, told me: We pulled out the cots that we save for snow emergencies so that people now, in the heat of early summer, are facing the same kinds of delays. Our highest priority is to protect those who travel on our airplanes. Poor planning and inadequate funding have led to alarming delays across airports in America, and in Chicago we have felt it more than most. More needs to be done to fix the problem. That is what I have been working to do. Earlier this week, I talked to the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson on the phone about the next steps. Yesterday, I followed up with a call to TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger to hear his thoughts. We all agree that the real problem is the shortage of TSA screeners.…
