Sean Reyes: “I have said all along that we need to federalize and professionalize airport baggage screening. With Federal employees…”

“I have said all along that we need to federalize and professionalize airport baggage screening. With Federal employees conducting the screening, we will greatly improve the quality of the screening process. Baggage screeners play a critical role in securing our airlines from terrorist attacks and are the first line of defense. The government should pay salaries commensurate with the law enforcement responsibilities of screening. This compromise is a step in the right direction and will provide uniform standards for security screeners at airports. Safe air travel is a national priority and it is critical that our screeners be held to rigid Federal standards. I urge all of my colleagues to support this important compromise that will require almost all of the Nation's airports to put Federal employees in charge of security screening for the next 3 years. After that period of time, individual airports will have the ability to reaccess and to decide if they want to opt out of that Federal system and allow the screening to be handled by private contractors, State or local law enforcement. I predict that most will not. In addition, the bill calls for increased screening of checked bags within 60 days and that all checked bags go through explosive devise testing within a year. I strongly encourage the Department of Transportation to use new technology like SPEDS, the Small Parcel Explosive Detection System, which can detect explosives in a nonintrusive manner.”