James Oberstar: “We could have had an aviation security bill much, much, much sooner. Yes, the Senate bill was not a great product, but…”

“We could have had an aviation security bill much, much, much sooner. Yes, the Senate bill was not a great product, but it was passed a month ago, and this body could have acted before that or soon thereafter. We have been working 2- and 3-day weeks, really been putting in tough duty here in Washington, D.C. I have been flying back and forth across the country more than I am spending time in Washington. We could have had a bill sooner, except for the impetus of one of the gentlemen who spoke in the well earlier about this, who was dead set against having competent, well-trained Federal employees doing the screening and security at airports. This bill provides that almost every airport in America will have those competent, well-trained Federal employees in place within 1 year, to replace the minimum wage, undertrained, and sometimes felonious employees used today to supposedly provide us with security. We should have done it sooner. It is great we are doing it today. It is a good bill.”