Sheila Jackson Lee: “I thank the gentleman from Mississippi for yielding. I want to thank the gentleman from Mississippi for his wisdom in…”

“I thank the gentleman from Mississippi for yielding. I want to thank the gentleman from Mississippi for his wisdom in putting forward a bill that is long overdue, and that is H.R. 1140, which is the Rights for Transportation Security Officers Act of 2020. Let me congratulate the storied organization AFGE. They have a stellar reputation for fairly representing government workers in a way that provides them a better quality of life. I am not sure why they have become the issue on this floor, and our chairman has just indicated that there is no such language that limits any actions by our TSO officers. Let me be very clear: Starting with the TSO and Homeland Security from the very beginning, this organizing was done for purposes of emergency. So now you have denied, for over 20 years, the rights of these individuals to live a decent life. I take issue with this one example of an individual who, obviously, was not managed, because we all know that a man does not examine a female passenger, period, or traveler. We know that doesn't happen. So a bad apple does not reflect on the fact that these workers need better rights, grievances, higher pay, professional development, and to be treated in the civil system such that we will develop a professional workforce that stays, that has a high morale and not a low morale. {time} 1415 Are we doing this to the FBI, the Defense Department, and ATF? Are we telling them that at any moment they can be fired without due process?…”