Bob Menendez: “the Republican leadership thinks they can dress up the people who work for these private companies in fancy uniforms and…”

“the Republican leadership thinks they can dress up the people who work for these private companies in fancy uniforms and put badges on them and that will make people think they are federalized. They think they can change the name of the bill and put federalization in the title and that fixes its flaws. Listen to what USA Today said, and I quote: ``House GOP leaders insist on protecting failed screening firms.'' That is the bottom line. We have Federal officers at our national borders. We have Federal officers protecting the President. We have Federal officers protecting us here in the Capitol, and that is the right way to do it. The most important role of the Federal Government is to protect its people; but the Republican leadership is saying we need Federal officers to protect us here in Washington, but the flying public can have their security sold off to the lowest bidder, and that is outrageous. The American public deserves the same quality of protection we receive; and I keep hearing these complaints about unionization and government employees, and personally I am sick of it. Who do my colleagues think risked their lives on September 11? Firefighters; police officers, first responders; pilots; flight attendants; government workers, many; union workers, almost all. They were heroes. Heroes. Shame on anyone who says that union workers or government workers cannot be trusted.”