James Oberstar: “I hope we can put aside the unnecessary and overblown hyperbole that has at times crept into this discussion such as…”

“I hope we can put aside the unnecessary and overblown hyperbole that has at times crept into this discussion such as Moscow-style bureaucracy; TSA is a joke. TSA is not a joke. This agency, its personnel are engaged in the very serious business of maintaining security at our Nation's airports, for air travelers, for the airline business in America. They have done an extraordinary job under extremely difficult circumstances, tight timelines, unavailability of space, equipment that was not forthcoming, equipment that was not ready to do the task that was set before them; and I think rather than disparage this agency and these personnel who came in with a very high degree of spirit to do the right job for America, we ought to commend the individual workers for making the effort and continue our focus on redirecting the management and setting performance standards. Performance standards would be far better than an arbitrary limit on the number of personnel.”