FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 13, 2007
CONTACT: Geoff Embler or Jamie Loftus
Sen. Hutchison Opposes Flawed Approach to Security Bill
Calls legislation a “missed opportunity”
WASHINGTON -- Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, today voted against passage of S. 4, legislation that purports to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.
“This legislation was an exercise in missed opportunities,” said Sen. Hutchison. “The majority leadership had the chance to make America more secure, but instead led us down a path of maintaining the status quo.”
S. 4 authorizes Transportation Security Administration (TSA) airport screeners to bargain collectively.
“As an author of the legislation that created the TSA, I’m concerned that this bill will lead to the loss of flexibility and the ability to deploy screeners according to security needs,” said Sen. Hutchison. “The Congressional Budget Office estimates that this provision would cost American taxpayers’ $175 million for negotiation and arbitration, an amount equal to employing over 3,800 transportation security officers who could screen 330,000 passengers per day. That money would be better spent on boosting security, not weakening it.”
Sen. Hutchison cosponsored Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s amendment to allow the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary to allocate funding for homeland security grants based upon risk analysis, a major recommendation of the 9/11 Commission.
“The bill failed to implement one of the most important recommendations of the 9/11 Commission to award homeland security grants based on an analysis of risk. We should change the current system and take a commonsense approach that ensures that the most vulnerable places in the country receive proper funding in a fiscally responsible way,” said Sen. Hutchison.
“These funds should be spent where threats to lives and the economy are greatest. Wasting national security resources by rewarding political favors is a gross misallocation of precious funds.”
Sen. Hutchison discussed her support for Sen. Feinstein’s amendment on the Senate floor on Monday, March 5, 2007. A video of her statement can be viewed by following this LINK.
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