Transportation Security Screening Modernization Act of 2024

Floor Speech

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Mr. SMITH of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Green, Mr. Graves, and all the people that have been involved in this process. It is, as has been described, a very commonsense fix that really affects a lot of blue-collar workers.

If you work in a job that takes you into secure transportation environments, you are required to go through a very cumbersome process and also pay fees to get the security clearance to do that job. The fees are redundant, the process is redundant, and it is an incredible burden on workers just trying to do their job. This bill makes a ton of sense, fixes the process, reduces the fees, streamlines the process, is going to make it easier for workers all across the country, and it is something we need to work on.

In my own world in the Department of Defense we have a similar problem with security clearances taking forever and in many cases being redundant, so I hope this is an idea that will spread. We need workers to go to work for us. Yes, we need security, but the process takes too long, it is redundant, and it costs too much. I hope this can be an inspiration to fix it.

The last thing I want to say is that I first heard about this issue-- and I think this is the coolest thing about this legislation--from a constituent, Van Hurst, who was a Teamster and a truck driver at the time, who experienced this process, alerted my office to the problem, and it led to our involvement in this legislation.

A lot of people say that the system doesn't work; nobody ever listens to us. This is an average constituent, a truck driver in my district, who had a problem and brought it to us. We worked through the process, and now today we are about to pass the Senate bill, solve the problem, send it off to the President where it will be signed, and the problem will be fixed.

For all constituents out there frustrated, irritated, aggravated about all the things that aren't happening, bring your problems to us. We will do our level best to listen and try to solve them. It doesn't always work. It is a big, complicated democracy, a lot of people with a lot of voices, but it works far more often than people realize.

I will close with another shout-out to Van Hurst, a Teamster from the city of Kent in the Ninth Congressional District who brought this to my attention, and we are now working to solve the problem.

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