Mark Kirk

As we today initiate this important pilot program to allow the use of firearms by flight crews, is it not also appropriate that the TSA expedite the implementation of less-than-lethal security plans when requested by the airlines?

We need to modernize Medicare with a prescription drug benefit, and both parties agree. The difference is this: Our plan fits within the budget. It covers needy seniors and prevents a senior from losing their home due to high drug costs…

In the current airport security program, turnover can reach 400 percent, but in the U.S. Marshal Court Security Officer Program, turnover is less than any normal civilian, 4 percent. So we have a stable, highly-trained force with law…

We stand for a key principle: that U.S. citizens should protect U.S. citizens at U.S. airports. There is a critical danger here in the war on terrorism which will take quite some time. The al-Qaeda organization, with its vast network and…

Well over half of the 20,000 screeners, by the terms of our bill, would automatically be discharged from their duties because they are not American citizens. We would have to upgrade to the new system under regulations and supervision by…

That is, but that is a critical difference from the current status quo, which we are against. Over half of all the screeners in the United States are not American citizens. Over 90 percent of the screeners at Dulles were not American…

In fact, this bill will give us a security system that is even stronger than Israel's. Even El Al at this time does not screen all baggage that enters the cargo hold for weapons and explosives. But under the House Republican bill, we have…

I will note that European security officials have started out exclusively with public employees, but they have modified their structure into a public-private partnership, so that now 31 of 35 European airports are this public-private…

Several constitutional lawyers have informed me that H.R. 7 would indeed change the existing situation. This is precisely where we seem to most disagree on the direction our policy should move in. I would hope that the gentleman from…

If a State law prohibits discrimination based on a particular characteristic, and in a religious organization would ordinarily, based on State law, be required to comply with that law, would H.R. 7 change that situation in any way?

I would like to engage the author of the bill in a colloquy. Many H.R. 7 supporters have questioned why this issue is suddenly being discussed, since the most recent version of the charitable choice signed into law last year included the…

First I want to commend the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Callahan) for restoring funding for renewable energy in this bill. With regard to contamination of Lake Michigan, we have had the Rock Gobie, the Fish Hook Flea, alewife, nuclear…

Continuing on that theme, I want to read the names of the crew: Richard Bensing, Steven Blocher, Bradford Borland, David Cecka, John Comerford, Shawn Coursen, Jeremy Crandall, Josef Edmunds, Brandon Funk, Scott Guidry, Jason Hanser…

Mrs. Stanfield has not seen her brother for 50 years. She is a symbol of the 500,000 Korean-Americans separated from their families in North Korea. While substantial progress has been made to reunite South-Korean families with their known…