On the recordFebruary 3, 2011
this is an amendment that deals with an issue going back to the beginning of the TSA screening program, almost 10 years ago now, at the end of 2001. We had significant discussion between the House and the Senate about how that program would run. In fact, the House, which I was a Member of at the time and the occupant of the chair was a Member of at the time, passed a bill which said the screening would continue to be competitive and private and determined by local airports. The Senate's view at the time was this was a new responsibility that would be taken over everywhere by the Federal Government and the TSA. The final determination was that, while the Federal Government would take this responsibility, there would be allowed to be pilot airports that would be determined and be monitored to determine whether a pilot project would verify that another alternative would be a competitive, private screening as one of the options available to airports. In fact, in 2004, the screening partnership program was created. The pilots had worked. The verification was that the private screeners were performing at a level that was equal to that of the government-paid screeners, that the cost was comparable, and that airports in the future would be able to apply to go from the government-run program to a competitive program, and about 16 airports have done that. I think the biggest one is probably the San Francisco airport.
