Ed Markey: “If you are on a passenger plane, and this is the size of your carry-on luggage, you have to put that luggage through…”

“If you are on a passenger plane, and this is the size of your carry-on luggage, you have to put that luggage through screening, each person in America, no exceptions; Members of Congress, no exception. We are known trippers. They do not say to Members of Congress, oh, we know who you are, you are a known tripper, just bring that bag right around security. They do not say to businessmen who fly between New York and Boston every day, you are a known tripper, come right around security, we are only going to check these people who do not fly that often. No. Every single one of our carry-on pieces of luggage gets screened, and that is the way it should be, no exceptions for Members of Congress, no exceptions for business people, no exceptions for anybody. But if you have got a piece of cargo, and they say you are a known shipper, they do not put it through any screening on the same plane that we are on. But listen to this: If it is under 16 ounces, and, by the way, Richard Reid, who had explosive plastic material in his shoes had less than this, this does not get screened. There is no paperwork required. There is no known shipper program. Nothing, if it is 16 ounces and under to go on passenger planes if it is cargo. Now, that is a huge loophole. Why can we not screen this? What is so complicated about screening this going onto passenger planes?”