Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I thank my colleague and friend from Illinois for his leadership on this issue and his support for the initiative that Senator Markey and I first raised, which he has supported so very helpfully, and essentially that is to persuade the airlines to stop charging for bags that are checked onto planes as opposed to being carried on. Obviously, the fee for checking those bags adds to the number of carry-ons and provides an incentive for larger numbers of carry-ons. In fact, TSA itself reports that there has been an increase in carry-ons due to these fees.

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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. I thank the Presiding Officer.

The elimination of the fees for checked bags is not a panacea. It is not going to solve this problem alone. But it will, along with other measures, help reduce lines that result from screening.

I commend Admiral Neffenger for his very close and prompt attention to this matter and for a number of the initiatives he has taken. We heard about them in the Commerce Committee this morning. I also thank Secretary Johnson for supporting elimination of the fees for checked bags. I think his leadership will be important.

There are a number of other initiatives that can and should be taken. There is automated equipment that can expedite the screening of those carry-on bags. The use of additional screeners is important. The number has been reduced over the last 3 years by about 5,800. The addition of another close to 800 will help compensate. But again, alone, none of these solutions will provide the answer.

As far as the automated equipment is concerned, the cost for the 20 busiest airports is about $30 million--a pittance compared to the $3.8 billion in revenue the airlines make every year as a result of the fees for checked baggage. I will repeat that: $3.8 billion is going to airlines as a result of their purposefully charging for bags checked instead of carried on. Many of those bags that go through screening now wind up in the holds of those airplanes anyway because there isn't room for them on the plane, so they wind up being checked at the gate. That simply adds to the cost and inconvenience of passengers: delayed flights, missed flights, flights that are in effect late because of the boarding problems. All of these accumulating issues are reasons to eliminate these fees and also give passengers the benefit of lower costs.

My hope is that the airlines will voluntarily eliminate these fees for checked bags. After the meeting we had today with Admiral Neffenger, I am encouraged that the TSA will take initiative and help to implement other measures as well.

In the meantime, we need the airlines to show some leadership as well, and I am hopeful they will do the right thing. The U.S. Travel Association has called it a national crisis. The evidence is irrefutable. At checkpoints that have no fee charges for bags, the carry-ons are 27 percent lower, so the numbers of carry-ons definitely diminish as the fees are eliminated. This evidence is irrefutable and argues powerfully that the airlines should not keep their passengers waiting in line. They should make some sacrifice to their bottom line and should not be profiting at the expense of their passengers.

I will conclude by saying on this point--and I am so glad to see my colleague and friend from Massachusetts--that we need this initiative now, and we need it to happen.

I also want to advocate on behalf of the safety of our roads. Blumenthal amendment No. 4002 will not be called up in part because it had been willfully mischaracterized by an industry campaign. In effect, we need to make truck drivers more safely empowered on the roads to take steps to protect themselves. Drivers who spend too much time behind the wheel are tired. They can't drive as safely. This amendment would enable them to drive more safely, give them the rest they need, protect them, and enable the roads to be safer not only for them but for people generally.

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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. I yield to Senator Markey.

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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, as I mentioned earlier, the Senator from Massachusetts and I have been partners in this effort, and I hope we can prevail.

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