Bill Pascrell: “I witnessed the screener cap issue firsthand when there were media reports that Newark International Airport was not…”

“I witnessed the screener cap issue firsthand when there were media reports that Newark International Airport was not meeting the baggage screening mandate. At one point this past year, Newark was dangerously understaffed to the point where the EDS machines, and we know how sensitive they are; we know how much effort we have put into this, thanks to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, thanks to homeland security, they were sitting idle. No one was there to operate them despite high passenger traffic. The airport is now meeting its mandates, but only with the temporary assignment of an extra 150 screeners to deal with the summer months. Come the fall, we may be short-staffed again. So what is actually needed is clearly more than the arbitrary level set in the bill. That is what I am addressing, Mr. Chairman, through the Chair, and that is, I believe the 45,000 number is arbitrary. I think that the 45,000 figure, that cap, that threshold is not realistic. I have looked at the data. I have examined the small airports, the large airports.”