Mike Pence: “Today this Chamber will take up the difficult question of airport security. As a conservative, you can imagine I was…”

“Today this Chamber will take up the difficult question of airport security. As a conservative, you can imagine I was loath to support any wanton expansion of the Federal Government. Accordingly, I opposed the version of airport security that emerged from the other Chamber, believing it to be simply a large bureaucratic explosion of government. I am proud to have passed and supported the House version of the bill, and I am proud today to rise in support of the compromise on the Aviation Security Act. In the compromise bill, like the House bill, Americans do not have to wait a year for airport security. There is immediate remedy, using public and private blended and flexible sources. Five airports will participate in a pilot project studying public and private solutions. And there is a third year opt-out. We are giving the President the flexible program he has requested. Exempting these Federal employees from Civil Service Act requirements and creating a system that on the eve of one of our most important and most traveled family holidays will send a strong message of confidence to the American people. I urge my colleagues to support the conference report for the Aviation Security Act.”