Waiving Points of Order Against Conference Report on H.R. 2360, Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2006

WAIVING POINTS OF ORDER AGAINST CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 2360, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2006 -- (House of Representatives - October 06, 2005)

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Mr. MEEKS of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration's Registered Traveler program.

Like many of my colleagues, I was shocked to learn last month that the TSA has discontinued the Registered Traveler pilot program operating at five commercial airports. While TSA claims they need time to evaluate the pilot program before expanding, I contend they have been slow to act and, as a result, are depriving the traveling public, particularly frequent travelers, a more efficient, effective and safer manner of proceeding through airport security.

TSA has been running the pilot programs since the summer of 2004. Each one was advertised to be 90 days in duration, at which point decisions about further deployment would be made. However, we find ourselves now over a year since these pilot programs began with TSA still saying they need additional time to evaluate it. I do not buy it.

This is a classic example of the Federal Government being slow in making critical decisions about a program which we know to be a success and a program that we know also makes us safer.

Now, the TSA is continuing to operate a sixth pilot program at Orlando International Airport that they launched this past June. The Orlando pilot is different from the five pilots that have been shut down in that it is a public-private partnership that is run in conjunction with the airport, its vendor and TSA. I believe this public-private partnership is the way to go, as it will allow the private sector to add additional strengths to the programs, such as offering greater flexibility in meeting the needs and customer expectations, making rapid decisions on capital investment, and customizing programs based on intimate knowledge of the local market.

The Registered Traveler program has promise, and I believe in it. However, due to the manner in which the pilot programs were structured and the lack of decision-making at TSA, this program is in jeopardy of not getting off the ground at the national level. First and foremost, there are too few measurable benefits at the security checkpoint for individuals enrolled in the Registered Traveler program. Why does TSA collect a list of personal data on an individual and then subject him or her to a security threat assessment and provide so few measurable benefits?

I contend that if the Federal Government knows who you are by running your information against terrorist watch lists and other government databases, then they should provide more meaningful benefits at the security checkpoint such as not having you take off your shoes or not having you take off your coat or perhaps allowing nonticketed individuals back to the gates, as we did prior to 9/11, where they have our fingerprints and our eye retinas to make sure that we are safe going through. These are common sense benefits that can and should have been granted to individuals who sign up for this program. With not providing real benefits such as these, TSA is running the risk of killing this program before it is even started.

I am also extremely concerned with this language contained in the DHS conference report that provides a monopoly in my view to one organization to be the central collector and aggregator for biometric data necessary for the background vetting of the Registered Traveler program like other programs. This is not the approach we should be headed in in the United States Congress. We should be promoting competition, growth and an even playing field. And with a public-private partnership like the public-private partnership taking place in Orlando, the American people will win, and the options and competitive environment will be what we need to make us safer.

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