Jay Inslee: “my colleagues should be aware that when they get on their planes to go home to their districts this weekend, they should…”

“my colleagues should be aware that when they get on their planes to go home to their districts this weekend, they should know that 90 to 95 percent of the bags that will go into the belly of their airplanes will not be screened for explosive devices. This is an enormous hole in our security system, and we applaud the efforts of the Secretary of Transportation and we applaud the efforts of the Congress, as we are going to do everything we can to take nail clippers away from passengers, but it does not do any good if they can put 40 pounds of C-4 high explosives in bags in the belly of our airplanes. Mr. Speaker, the bill that the majority party is bringing to the floor of the House is not going to solve that problem. It will have some nice rhetorical flourish language that some day, at some unspecified date, by some unspecified means, we are going to check these bags, but that is not good enough. We have offered an amendment, and I hope the majority party will allow this House to vote on our amendment, which will assure by a specific date through a specific authorization that 100 percent of the bags that go in each jet airplane get screened to keep bombs out of them. And if we do not do that, heaven help this House.”