Fritz Hollings

Mr. HOLLINGS

Mr. HOLLINGS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the majority leader, following consultation with the Republican leader, may proceed to consideration of Calendar No. 161, S. 1214, the Port, Maritime, and Rail Security Act; that when the measure is considered, it be under the following limitations: That a managers' substitute amendment be in order; that the substitute amendment be considered and agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; that the bill, as thus amended, be considered as original text for the purpose of further amendment, with no points of order waived by this agreement; that all first-degree amendments must be transportation-related; that the second-degree amendments must be relevant to the first-degree amendment to which it is offered; that upon the disposition of all amendments, the bill be read the third time, and the Senate vote on passage of the bill, with this action occurring with no further intervening action or debate.

Mr. HOLLINGS

Mr. HOLLINGS. No.

Mr. HOLLINGS. There is language in the bill whereby they do not connect with the hub, for example, in Alaska. You can lower that fare in those airports.

Mr. HOLLINGS. Madam President, we are trying to get the bill over to the House as promptly as we can. I am prepared to yield back our time, if the Senator from Texas as well is willing.

Mr. HOLLINGS. I yield back our time.

Mr. HOLLINGS. There are very important inclusions in this airport security bill. They were made, in essence, by the distinguished Senator from Connecticut. The Governmental Affairs Committee worked with our committee, and we were glad to have his leadership in this regard. I thank him publicly for his good leadership which helped us get to this point. Technical Corrections to the Aviation Security Bill

Mr. HOLLINGS. Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. HOLLINGS. I think we are trying to find the final wording because most of this was in the House bill. But the answer is, I think on the fee you are right; it would be. The FAA safety regulations still apply to general aviation. There has been no repeal of that in the takeover by the Deputy Secretary of Security. But the general aviation regulations are not disturbed here with respect to safety.

Mr. HOLLINGS. Yes, I join the Senator in committing to ensuring that these changes will be included as part of a technical corrections bill before the end of the first session of this Congress. Ensuring Cockpit Safety During Smoke Emergencies

Mr. HOLLINGS. It is not changed.

Mr. HOLLINGS. It does not require that, and there is no charge there.

Mr. HOLLINGS. I yield such time as is necessary to the Senator from Texas.

Mr. HOLLINGS. Generally speaking, none. It does not affect the small planes with passengers. We would like to spell that out, but we haven't gotten into that thoroughly. That is our problem right here, for example, with Reagan National's restrictions against private planes coming in, and these other airports around the country. We are trying to work that out. But we didn't think that was necessarily the particular safety threat at this particular time.

Mr. HOLLINGS. Shalom, peace. Tell them to just calm down for the simple reason that this affects the 420 hub airports and the other airports connecting with those hub airports. The Senator talks about 100 or so. I know we have nearly 100. When someone gets into a political campaign in Texas or South Carolina, you have to travel back and forth on the plane. We don't have machines there to test the baggage, or Federal agents. I want to answer as appropriately as I can. We are going to continue the safety. Small general aviators practice safety because their life depends on it. No, there won't be Federal marshals there. There won't be Federal screeners in all of those little airports, if that is what the Senator wants to get to.

Mr. HOLLINGS. Yes.

Mr. HOLLINGS. I yield to the distinguished Senator from North Dakota.

Mr. HOLLINGS. I thank the Senators from Hawaii for raising this important concern. Section 104(a)(1)(B) would authorize the FAA Administrator to take action as may be necessary to ensure the safety and security of the aircraft from smoke emergencies.

Mr. HOLLINGS. Madam President, I particularly thank the Senator from North Dakota and his staff. They worked with us around the clock. That is why we are here today. I yield to the distinguished Senator from Virginia.

Mr. HOLLINGS. I thank the staff and the distinguished Chair and wish all a happy Thanksgiving.

Mr. HOLLINGS. If they come right into that hub.

Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I first want to thank Sam Whitehorn, who is now changing clothes to come to the Chamber, and Kevin Kayes. Both Sam Whitehorn and Kevin Kayes are on my Commerce Committee staff. They have been working hard all night long, even with the breakdown of the computer at 5 a.m., to get these documents ready for consideration. They have been working over the past 6 weeks, ever since September 11. Secondly, I thank the New York Times. The headline today is: ``Congress Agrees to U.S. Takeover For Air Security.'' In a line, this will do more to stimulate air travel and rejuvenate the economy than any one single thing, and that is what we have been trying to do as well as institute safety. I thank my distinguished counterpart, Senator McCain, who has been sticking with us. We fought a good fight right down to the wire, and in a general sense we prevailed in that it is not a compromise on safety. There is an old Roman canon, XII, salus populi suprema lex esto, ``the safety of the people is the supreme law,'' and that is the way we approach this. We were not concerned about contractors; we were not concerned about flexibility; we were concerned about accountability; we were concerned about safety. There is just no way, and should not be, to compromise safety. That was the difficulty of this particular task. It has been a long, hard road. I started on this effort over 20 years ago, back in the late 1980s with Pan Am 103, TWA 800, and on and again. There were commissions, hearings, more hearings and commissions, standards, more training, more testing, more oversight, and on September 11 we ended up with criminals doing the screening and 5,000 dead. So that sobered us up. Senator McCain and I went right to work. We had a full day of hearings. We now have a measure before us in this conference report sought for by the airline pilots, the flight attendants, the Air Transport Association, the airport managers, the Business Airline Coalition, the mayors, the Governors and everyone else. The media have been wonderful in that respect because we have the people behind us. They have said time and again they were willing to pay up to $25 or more per ticket to get airline security. This is only $2.50 with a cap of $5 on any one flight. But I think the people ought to understand what has been going on for years on end. The FAA thought its task was in the main to promote air travel and, on many occasions, sacrificed safety. For instance, the Inspector General attested before Congress the day before yesterday, less than 5 percent of the baggage is screened. We have seen only today at Logan Airport they had to fire, or suspend, I should say, the security contractor because his screener went to sleep at the switch and they do not know how many people got through during that slumber. They had to call everybody back in from the planes and go through security again. Security lapses have persisted, but they will not persist any longer because we now have federalization. At our hearing, we called in El Al. We had testimony from the Israeli security agency, the chief pilot of El Al. I can hear that chief pilot. He said: Senator, when we secure that cockpit door, and it is a secure- type door, it is never to be opened in flight. He said: Even if my wife is being assaulted in the cabin, I don't open the door. I land that plane and law enforcement is there to meet me. That has stopped hijacking at El Al. They have not had one for 30 years. All these folks running around hollering about the European model--in the last 8 years they have had 20. We didn't model this after Europe. We modeled it after El Al. You can see the comprehensive nature, when you listen to their particular procedure. They not only screen the passengers and screen the baggage and everything else, but they have a double-check at the time of enplanement. They have a total background check and security of the tarmac itself. This approach prevents someone from getting a ticket, having their seat assigned and then calling some plant out on the tarmac that has been working there and say: Tape a loaded pistol on flight so-and-so, and go out there. So you have to use absolute care with the caterers, the mechanics, those who have access to the planes, and the perimeter of the airport itself. It is a sort of seamless web. When the news media talks of compromises between the House and Senate--let me put it this way: There is no compromise on safety. That is my emphasis now. With respect to the particular items, since others want to be addressing the body at this time, I encourage Senators and the public to review the content of the conference report in the Congressional Record following passage by the House of Representatives. Let me just say this. I will never forget it. We were taught at law school that Jackson told Marshall: The Court has made its decision. Let him enforce it. I don't want to sound abrupt, but the Congress has made its decision. Now let the administration, the President, enforce it. I say that advisedly because our Chief Executive has been all over the lot. That is one of the disturbances we had. We were told he would sign our bill that passed 100 to 0. Then they put the entire White House in behind Mr. Delay, changing the votes, changing the votes over here on the Senate side. Although Senators just had voted as a group of 100, part of that group changed their votes and everything else of that kind. We had, momentarily, total chaos. Now the President says he signs it. Let me make this comment: We can make it work. We are going to have oversight. We are going to keep their feet to the fire. But he has to put in a hard charger, a Stormin' Norman or somebody as the Deputy Secretary of Security for Transportation. If you get a person of that ilk, he will come there and he is going to get the job done. But if it is going to be business as usual and worrying--as I heard the Secretary say in one of the conferences he had--he said: Wait a minute, now, if we have that kind of security requirements in Anchorage, we will lose the business in Anchorage and they will fly to Vancouver--literally. I said: Come on, man, whenever they come to America, whether it is in Anchorage or down in Seattle or whatever, they are going to get this kind of check. But you can see the culture, the mindset. So you have to have someone with a strong mindset as the Deputy Secretary of Security in this particular department to carry forward this initiative. I yield the floor to my distinguished colleague.

Mr. HOLLINGS. Under a unanimous consent agreement, I call up the conference report on the bill, S. 1447, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. HOLLINGS

Mr. HOLLINGS. Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays on the final vote on the conference report.

Mr. HOLLINGS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. HOLLINGS. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.