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Floor Speech

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Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to ask my colleagues to vote on the nomination of Admiral David Pekoske to serve a second term as Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration.

We recently commemorated the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and the 3,000 lives lost here in the United States when tragically the Pentagon was struck, downtown Manhattan, and Shanksville, PA. In response to that, Congress created the TSA--Transportation Security Administration--to strengthen the Nation's security and our transportation system.

And every day that TSA works the frontlines to protect the traveling public, it is working to also prevent future attacks. It is safeguarding our Nation's infrastructure and certainly working every day to make sure that the flying public continues to move through a successful process.

TSA's mission lies in the commitment of professionals and highly skilled individuals. Admiral Pekoske's confirmation and continued leadership of this team will enable the TSA to further its ongoing and important mission.

Over the past two decades, the TSA has had to deal with many challenges: facing the continued threats of concealing weapons in shoes and underwear and even in soft drinks. And in 2010, the TSA began detecting explosives in electronics and countering attacks on the public side of airports.

Today, the landscape is even more sophisticated with state and nonstate actors and cyber attacks. Unique challenges posed to us during the COVID pandemic have made these challenges to the aviation security landscape even greater.

We know that we need to have continued experienced leadership. And Admirable Pekoske is well qualified for this position. He will continue to make transportation security and its modernization the Nation's No. 1 priority as it relates to the sector.

Each day, at over 430 airports across the country, TSA screens over 2 million passengers and 1.4 million checked bags for explosives and other dangerous items. This helps ensure the security for over 24,000 domestic flights and nearly 3,300 outbound international flights per day.

Security demands for the Agency are returning and every day are continuing to grow. Over the Labor Day weekend, TSA screened nearly 11 million people, or 3 percent more, over the corresponding period in 2019. In fact, TSA screened more people on 4 of the 5 days, from September 1 to 5, marking the first sustained period of checkpoint throughput during a holiday weekend above prepandemic levels.

So the traveling public is back, and, obviously, we need dedicated TSA officers and individuals to continue to work. We are not saying that there aren't improvements to that process--there certainly are-- but TSA has been charged with a critical, obviously, responsibility to make sure that we continue to work to ensure the safety of our air transportation system.

Last year's ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline threatened nearly 50 percent of the east coast's fuel supply. So we must harden all of our targets and make sure the TSA has leadership to make sure that they, too, are helping us address these emerging threats.

Admiral Pekoske's experience in leading TSA in these critical missions deserves support for renomination to this position again.

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