Martin Sabo: “this was an amendment that I was not planning to offer unless the language we had in the bill relating to CAPPS2 was…”

“this was an amendment that I was not planning to offer unless the language we had in the bill relating to CAPPS2 was stricken. And, unfortunately, there was a point of order raised on the CAPPS2 language and some very important language relating to privacy was stricken from the bill. This is a rather simple amendment. The fact is the Department's privacy office has huge responsibilities and a limited budget. The amendment increases funding for the Department's privacy office by $2 million. The charge of the Department's privacy office has grown far beyond what was originally envisioned in the Department's budget projection. The Secretary delegated Freedom of Information Act oversight to this office in addition to its privacy duties. The privacy issues at the Department are huge, particularly with the TSA, CAPPS2, and transportation worker identification cards programs, and MATRIX. The privacy office will also be the last point of passenger appeals. Because we eliminated the Capps language which required GAO to do a review of the Department's efforts to put CAPPS2 in place, and because there are new requirements being issued by the Department and how they are going to put their CAPPS2 list together, again we have a requirement in the Capps amendments that GAO review that process. That was deleted from this bill.”