House: No Fed Control of Airport Screeners

Nov. 2, 2001 -- The House of Representatives has approved a hotly contested airline security bill that would keep airport baggage screening in the hands of private companies.

The Republican-sponsored measure, passed by a vote of 286-139 late Thursday, calls for increased federal oversight of baggage screeners — in contrast to a bill passed unanimously by the Senate Oct. 12, which would have converted the 28,000 screeners into federal employees.

Earlier in the evening, the House narrowly defeated a Democratic-backed plan to approve the same Senate. The effort failed 218-214.

Now, House and Senate lawmakers must work out a compromise measure.

"The American people deserve tough security standards and the House plan delivers," President Bush said in a written statement shortly after the bill passed the House. "I urgethe House and Senate to work together to send a strong and effective bill to my desk."

Public Sector vs. Private Industry

The major sticking point during House debate was the role of the nation's airport baggage screeners.

House Democrats and some Republican moderates support a Senate bill, passed unanimously Oct. 12, nationalizing baggage screening and adding the workers to the government workforce.

The GOP-backed House bill would increase federal oversight of the security workers, but keep screening in the hands of private security companies.

A long-standing desire to limit the size of the federal government and their traditional wariness about organized labor have been behind the House Republicans' opposition to the Senate bill.

During the floor debate, Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., warned the Senate bill would create "the biggest bureaucracy in the history of a generation."

The GOP leadership does not want, as House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, puts it, to "create 28,000 union members," claiming it would be difficult to get rid of inadequate employees. Additionally, the House bill, unlike its Senate counterpart, specifically forbids baggage screeners from going on strike.

But supporters of federalization say the private companies contracted by the airlines to handle security have lax standards. One security company in particular, Argenbright Holdings, has come under fire for alleged regulations violations at 13 different airports.

Critics of the current system also say the private companies do not pay their employees well enough to ensure a stable workforce. According to the Government Accounting Office, an investigative arm of Congress, turnover among baggage screeners at Boston's Logan International Airport was 207 percent last year.

"This is police work," said House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., during the debate. "The companies that have been doing this have failed the American people."

President Lobbies for Private Force

Bush had announced his support for the House GOP bill, saying it "gives the government the flexibility it needs to assemble a skilled and disciplined screening workforce."

The president also engaged in some intensive lobbying of undecided GOP congressmen Thursday morning.

"I thought he was very persuasive," said Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y.

But under pressure to improve airline safety after terrorists turned four jet planes into deadly missiles on Sept. 11, the administration has signaled a willingness to accept a measure that includes federalization. The president "wouldn't want to have to sign it, but he would," said White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card.

In an effort to enact reforms quickly, House Democrats announced this week they were backing legislation identical to the Senate bill.

Mineta: Lapses Still Occurring

Those favoring a government takeover also claim the interstate nature of airline travel calls out for federal oversight. The planes that crashed into New York's World Trade Center on Sept. 11, for instance, originated at Boston's Logan airport.

But the Republicans claim private security firms have been effective in a variety of European countries, including Britain and France.

As for the airlines themselves, some industry leaders have expressed interest in nationalizing the baggage screeners. With the major carriers racking up losses of historical magnitude, a federal security takeover could cut expenses.

Most pilots and some other airline workers, including the employees of United Airlines, the nation's second-largest carrier, have called for the federalization of baggage screening.

The American Federation of Government Employees has been running television ads in favor of federalization, and disputes the notion that its workers cannot be removed for poor performance.

"To fire a worker, a manager simply needs to file a complaint, provide the employee an opportunity to improve performance, and if no improvement is found the employee is issued an immediately effective termination notices," asserts an AFGE paper on air safety.

And while the events at Sept. 11 have had enormous consequences in the United States, security lapses have continued since then. People have carried weapons through screening points in New Orleans and Washington, D.C. in recent weeks.

"An unacceptable number of deficiencies continue to occur," acknowledged Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta on Tuesday.