*EPF507 11/02/01
Congress Divided over Aviation Security
(House rejects Senate provision for federal work force) (630)
By Andrzej Zwaniecki
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The House of Representatives has overwhelmingly passed legislation for tightening aviation security without making airport screeners federal employees.

The bill passed November 1 by a 286-139 vote would give the president a choice of hiring federal employees or private contractors to perform screening at airports, but would take responsibility for screening away from airlines and give it to the federal government to set stricter standards, train screeners and oversee private companies doing the work.

It would also deputize contract workers as federal agents and require federal or state law enforcement personnel at each screening location.

In contrast, the Senate bill passed earlier unanimously would make federal employees out of the 28,000 workers who screen passengers and their baggage. House members had voted 218-214 to reject the Senate version before they passed legislation sponsored by House Republican leaders and supported by President Bush.

"The American people deserve tough security standards and the House plan delivers," Bush said after the vote. "I urge the House and Senate to work together to send a strong and effective bill to my desk."

Most of key provisions in the opposing bills aim at identical or similar goals, including increasing the number of federal air marshals on flights, expanding anti-hijacking training for flight crews, arming trained pilots, strengthening cockpit doors and moving toward inspection of all bags. Both bills also would impose an air ticket surcharge to pay for the increased security.

But the House version would create a new federal body within the Transportation Department to oversee transportation security while the Senate bill would give the Justice Department full responsibility for security at airports.

Both bills now are likely to go to a House-Senate conference committee to reconcile the differences between them.

House Republican Majority Leader Dick Armey said that "the House airport security plan scraps the current system and gives the president the tools and authority he needs to put safety and security first in our airports."

But Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, said that the House bill "significantly weakens provisions contained in the Senate bill that give Americans the confidence to fly again by making aviation security at all of our nation's airports a federal law enforcement responsibility."

And Democratic Minority Leader Dick Gephardt urged conference committee members to send the Senate version to the president. "That is the only way to ensure that American air travelers will see increased security in our airports as soon as possible," he said.

Throughout the day Republican proponents of the House bill argued that a new federal bureaucracy would be inflexible and ineffective, and require years to create, leaving airports vulnerable.

They pointed out that many European countries retained tight control of screeners' training and supervision but let the work force remain private after the government take-over of screening had failed to make it better.

But House Democrats who fashioned their version on the Senate bill countered that better trained and paid federal employees would do a far better job than private workers screening luggage and inspecting passengers. They contended that airport security should be a public function in line with guarding borders and fighting crime and fires.

Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, while supporting the public-private formula, has recently warned airlines, airports and security companies either to improve their lax implementation of new security measures or face a federal crackdown.

Because most security firms responsible for screening at U.S. airports are foreign-owned, some supporters of a federal airport screening work force argued that the nation's aviation security should not be placed in foreign hands.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
NNNN