Byron Dorgan: “The Advance Passenger Information System should now be in the law. But because of a jurisdictional issue that arose a…”

“The Advance Passenger Information System should now be in the law. But because of a jurisdictional issue that arose a couple of weeks ago, it is not in the law. In a couple minutes, I will explain exactly what it is. I just came from S. 207 where I am a conferee on the aviation security issue. That conference is ongoing right now. We are dealing with the issue of aviation security which is of great importance to all people in this country. How do we make flying more safe and more secure? We are doing that because of the concern about terrorism. One of the issues in dealing with terrorism has been to try to make mandatory something that has been voluntary with respect to all airlines that are carrying passengers into this country. Some 78 million people fly into this country each year as guests of our country. They come on visas. They are guests of the United States. Most of them are precleared. Their names are provided by airline carriers under what is called the Advance Passenger Information System, APIS.”