John Thune

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I call up amendment No. 3680.

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I rise today to address the Senate's ongoing effort to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration. The bill before us today was described in the Washington Post as ``one of the most passenger-friendly FAA reauthorization bills in a generation'' thanks to its robust new consumer protections. But even more importantly, this bill includes strong new security measures that address the threat ISIS and other terrorist groups pose to airline passengers. In the wake of the Brussels attacks, travelers are understandably nervous about the threats they face when flying, especially given terrorists' preference for targeting transportation. Here in the Senate, we are doing everything we can to address that threat. I am proud that this bill includes new protections to prevent an attack like the one in Brussels from happening at a U.S. airport. The FAA Reauthorization Act includes the most comprehensive set of aviation security reforms since President Obama first took office. To prevent airport insiders from helping terrorists, we have included measures to improve scrutiny of individuals applying to work in secure airport areas. This is especially critical as many experts believe the bombing of a Russian passenger jet leaving Egypt had help from an aviation insider. We have also included provisions to better safeguard public areas outside security in airports and to help reduce passenger backups. These reforms could help prevent a future attack like the one in the Brussels terminal last month, which targeted a crowd of passengers in an area where the attackers didn't even need tickets. Because staying ahead of threats needs to be a priority, we also included additional cyber security provisions and added anti-terrorism security features for new aircraft. The security reforms in this legislation were actually developed months ago as followups to congressional oversight, independent evaluations of agencies, and the study of existing problems. But these reforms have gained new urgency in the wake of recent attacks by ISIS. We need to constantly monitor and stay ahead of threats so that we can continue to ensure that our air transportation system is the safest in the world. More than any other reason, I support the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2016 because it will make the traveling public safer. For all of the many ways it improves our air transportation system, the provisions to keep Americans safe stand out as especially deserving of our support and as heightening the need to send this legislation on to the House. I yield back. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. THUNE. I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 12, 2016, at 10:15 a.m., in room SD-215 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to conduct a hearing entitled ``Cybersecurity and Protecting Taxpayer Information.''

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 12, 2016, at 10 a.m., in room SD-366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities of the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 12, 2016, at 2:30 p.m.

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate, on April 12, 2016, at 10 a.m., in room SD- 430 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building to conduct a hearing entitled ``ESSA Implementation in States and School Districts: Perspectives from the U.S. Secretary of Education.''

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 12, 2016, at 2:30 p.m., in room SH-219 of the Hart Senate Office Building.

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 12, 2016, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``The Spread of ISIS and Transitional Terrorism.''

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Superfund, Waste Management, and Regulatory Oversight of the Committee on Environmental and Public Works be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 12, 2016, at 2:30 p.m., in room SD- 406 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to conduct a hearing entitled, ``American Small Businesses Perspective on Environmental Protection Agency Regulatory Actions.''

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 12, 2016, at 9 a.m., to conduct a hearing entitled, ``Improving the USAJOBS Website.''

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Federal Spending Oversight and Emergency Management of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 12, 2016, at 3 p.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``FEMA: Assessing Progress, Performance, and Preparedness.''

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support of the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 12, 2016, at 2:30 p.m.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now vote on these amendments, as well as the Bennet amendment No. 3524, as modified with the changes at the desk, all en bloc.

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate resume consideration of H.R. 636 and that the following amendments be called up and reported by number: Cassidy amendment No. 3476, as modified; Inhofe amendment No. 3492, as modified; Hoeven amendment No. 3500; Flake amendment No. 3526; Cotton amendment No. 3535; Nelson amendment No. 3621; Booker amendment No. 3620; Nelson amendment No. 3633; Cantwell amendment No. 3534; Whitehouse amendment No. 3623; and Cochran amendment No. 3567.

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I know of no further debate on these amendments.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. THUNE

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

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, if I might just speak to amendment No. 3512, which we will be voting on momentarily, I know Senator Nelson has already spoken on this issue. We worked very hard on a series of security bills that we could bring to the floor. We are trying to move them separately, but I think they fit nicely into the debate we are having on the FAA reauthorization. Senators Nelson, Ayotte, Cantwell, and I have been leading oversight of airport and airline workers abusing their secure area access badges. This oversight led our committee to approve bipartisan legislation--S. 2361, Airport Security Enhancement and Oversight Act--to tighten the vetting of airport workers with ties to terrorists and serious criminal behavior that should disqualify them from accessing sensitive airport areas. Just in the past few weeks, a number of badged aviation industry workers have been caught in the act of helping criminal organizations. On March 18, a flight attendant abandoned a suitcase with 68 pounds of cocaine after being confronted by transportation security officers in California. On March 26 in Florida, an airline gate agent was arrested with a backpack containing $282,400 in cash that he intended to hand off to an associate. As we work to address the threat of an aviation insider helping terrorists, criminals who break laws for financial gain and those with a history of violence are a really good place to start. It is high time that we start cracking down on these types of offenses for people who are working in sensitive areas of our airports. U.S. terrorism experts believe that ISIS is recruiting criminals to join its ranks in Europe, and some of the perpetrators in the deadly attacks in Brussels were previously known to authorities as criminals. Ensuring that airport workers with security credentials are trustworthy is especially important, considering that experts believe an ISIS affiliate may have planted a bomb on a Russian Metrojet flight leaving Egypt with the help of an airport employee, which killed 224 people on board. The recent attacks by ISIS in the unsecured area of the Brussels Airport also underscore the vulnerability of airport areas outside of TSA security screening checkpoints. The House of Representatives and the Commerce Committee also approved legislation--H.R. 2843, the PreCheck Expansion Act--in December of 2015 to expand the PreCheck program by developing private sector partnerships and capabilities to vet and enroll more individuals. These private sector partners would be required to use an assessment equivalent to a fingerprint-based criminal history record check conducted through the FBI. These changes would increase the number of passengers who are vetted before they get to the airport. As a result, more passengers would receive expedited airport screening and get through security checkpoints more quickly, ensuring they don't pose the kind of easy target that the ISIS suicide bombers exploited at the Brussels Airport. In addition to the bills approved by our committee on March 23, the House Homeland Security Committee approved H.R. 4698, the SAFE GATES Act of 2016, which would strengthen security at international airports with direct flights to the United States. Specifically, the bill would require TSA to conduct a comprehensive risk assessment of all last- point-of-departure airports, a security coordination enhancement plan, and a workforce assessment. It would authorize the TSA to donate security screening equipment to foreign last-point-of-departure airports and to evaluate foreign countries' air cargo security programs to prevent any shipment of nefarious materials via air cargo. I believe these bills will help make air travel more secure, and they should advance in the full Senate in this amendment to the FAA bill. I encourage my colleagues to support the Thune-Nelson amendment and then also follow-on with the Heinrich amendment, which will come up shortly after a vote on that amendment. I think the Heinrich amendment also makes a number of important security improvements that will also strengthen airport security. There has been a discussion about whether there ought to be more VIPR teams. I think there are 30 or so at this point, and the amendment would allow that number to go up to 60. Yesterday we had the opportunity to question the TSA Administrator, Admiral Neffenger, about whether additional VIPR teams would be useful. He said they could put to use anything they were given in terms of additional units that might be deployed to places around the country where they think there is a need. So that is the principal component of the Heinrich amendment, which also addresses some of the security issues. I don't think we can understate how important security is in light of everything that is going on in the world today. We have people who want to harm Americans, and it is our job to make sure we are giving those authorities who are there to prevent those types of attacks against Americans all the tools they need in order to do their jobs effectively. I encourage our colleagues here in the Senate--when we have an opportunity to vote here momentarily on both of these security amendments--to support those amendments. They improve and strengthen security at our airports around this country, and I think they fit nicely within the context of the FAA reauthorization bill and the debate we are currently having on the floor of the U.S. Senate. I yield the floor.

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cornyn) and the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz). Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cornyn) would have voted ``nay.''

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

Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I yield back whatever time remains.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, today I wish to congratulate the Augustana University men's basketball team as they celebrate winning their first National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA, Division II men's basketball championship. The Augustana Vikings men's basketball team had an outstanding season, finishing with a school record 34 wins and only 2 losses. Their formidable opponents in the championship game, the Lincoln Memorial Railsplitters, were on a 24-game winning streak before facing Augustana. The first half of the game was close, with the two teams exchanging the lead. The Vikings maintained their lead throughout the entirety of the second half, however, and eventually won 90-81. The Vikings are coached by Tom Billeter, who has led the Vikings to seven NCAA tournament appearances during his 13-year career with the school. Three senior Vikings players, Alex Richter, Daniel Jansen, and Casey Schilling, were named to the Elite Eight All-Tournament team, and all three scored more than 20 points during the championship game. Richter was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament, and Jansen was recognized as the 2016 National Association of Basketball Coaches' Division II Player of the Year. On behalf of the State of South Dakota, I am pleased to congratulate the Augustana Vikings men's basketball team on this impressive accomplishment. I commend the players and coaching staff for all of their hard work and wish them the best of luck in future seasons.