James Oberstar: “This legislation is vitally important. It is long-standing. Actually, transportation security legislation in the…”

“This legislation is vitally important. It is long-standing. Actually, transportation security legislation in the aftermath of September 11 originated in the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, where the gentleman from Alaska, then the chairman, and I worked on a wide range of transportation issues. The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica), then the Chair of the Aviation Subcommittee, and I worked on what became the Transportation Security Administration, the TSA, the aviation portion of it. So we have a long-standing interest and involvement and in-depth engagement in this issue of transportation security. And now that the Homeland Security Committee has been created, we share aspects of this jurisdiction with that committee under the able leadership of the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson), the able chairman of the committee. We are very grateful for the opportunity we have had to work together to align our interests and achieve a memorandum of understanding that has been incorporated into the Rules of the House on the shared jurisdiction. Over a decade before September 11, 40-plus percent of terrorist incidents were carried out against rail systems and transit buses; and events of recent note show that those kinds of attacks continue. The transportation systems covered under this legislation cover over 11 billion passengers.”