Chip Cravaack: “The bill under consideration today, H.R. 1801, the Risk-Based Security Screening for Members of the Armed Forces Act, is…”

“The bill under consideration today, H.R. 1801, the Risk-Based Security Screening for Members of the Armed Forces Act, is a bipartisan effort which directs TSA to establish an expedited screening process for members of the Armed Forces and their families when they are traveling on orders throughout our Nation's airports. Currently, military servicemembers traveling on orders must remove their Class A uniform blouse jackets, metal belt buckles and insignia devices before proceeding through security checkpoints. While it is important every passenger undergo a security screening before boarding a plane, it makes absolutely no sense to require American servicemembers to take off their jackets and medals for TSA screening before boarding their flights home. Unless intelligence identifies a specific threat, we should honor our servicemembers' willingness to sacrifice themselves for our country by treating them as patriots, not operating under the assumption that everyone intends to harm our country's transportation system. Importantly, this commonsense bill will streamline the screening process for our servicemembers and lead to decreased checkpoint wait times for other American travelers. Moreover, this legislation will complement TSA Administrator Pistole's move toward a risk-based checkpoint screening system for passengers and will prioritize members of the Armed Forces for inclusion into that process.…”