The House yesterday rejected by voice vote an amendment during consideration of the FY ’14 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill that would have eliminated funding for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in favor of the savings going toward debt reduction.
Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.), in offering his amendment said that despite significant increases in staff the TSA has failed to prevent terrorists from boarding planes and that the United States should start from “scratch” in favor of a “leaner” aviation security program.
Rep. John Carter (R-Texas), chairman of the House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee said that while he has concerns with the TSA, eliminating the agency would hurt national security and leave airports unsecure.
The House approved by voice vote an amendment offered by Rep. Scott Tipton (R-Colo.) that would transfer $4 million from TSA’s administrative accounts in favor of funding the deployment of new Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) body imagers at small airports where those machines have been removed and redeployed to larger airports.
Rep. David Price (D-N.C.), ranking member on the Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee, in supporting the amendment said that TSA has unspent funds that can be used for the purchase of the new AIT systems for the small airports. TSA is currently testing new AIT systems that have a smaller physical footprint than existing systems. Price said Congress needs to press TSA to expedite the testing of these systems.
The House also approved by voice vote two amendments that would set minimum levels of funding for Port Security Grants and Mass Transit Security Grants at $97.5 million respectively. Current grant allocations administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency are not specified in the Obama Administration’s budget request. The amendments were offered by Rep. Julia Brownley (D-Calif.) and Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) respectively.
The House also approved by voice vote an amendment to add $10 million to TSA’s budget request for its Screening Partnership Program (SPP), which enables airports to opt-out from using federal screeners in favor of private security companies. The amendment was sponsored by Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), a strong advocate of the SPP program.
Also approved in a voice vote by the House was a bipartisan amendment to add $12.5 million to the Appropriation’s Committee’s $12.5 million markup of the Federal Flight Deck Officer program administered by TSA. The administration had sought to zero funding for the program, which trains pilots who elect to fly with firearms.
Voting on additional amendments to the $38.9 billion homeland security bill continued past our deadline last evening.