HON. RON PAUL
OF TEXAS
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
2010 Ron Paul 55:1
Mr. PAUL.
Madam Speaker, today I introduce
legislation to protect Americans from
physical and emotional abuse by Federal
Transportation Security Administration employees
conducting screenings at the Nationís airports.
We have seen the videos of terrified
children being grabbed and probed by airport
screeners. We have read the stories of Americans
being subjected to humiliating body imaging
machines and/or forced to have the
most intimate parts of their bodies poked and
fondled. We do not know the potentially harmful
effects of the radiation emitted by the new
millimeter wave machines.
2010 Ron Paul 55:2
In one recent well-publicized case, a TSA
official is recorded during an attempted body
search saying,
“By buying your ticket you
gave up a lot of rights.”
I strongly disagree
and am sure I am not alone in believing that
we Americans should never give up our rights
in order to travel. As our Declaration of Independence
states, our rights are inalienable.
This TSA version of our rights looks more like
the “rights” granted in the old Soviet Constitutions,
where freedoms were granted to Soviet
citizens—right up to the moment the state decided
to remove those freedoms.
2010 Ron Paul 55:3
The incident of the so-called “underwear
bomber” last Christmas is given as justification
for the billions of dollars the federal government
is spending on the new full-body imaging
machines, but a Government Accountability
Office study earlier this year concluded that
had these scanners been in use they may not
have detected the explosive material that was
allegedly brought onto the airplane. Additionally,
there have been recent press reports calling
into question the accuracy and adequacy
of these potentially dangerous machines.
2010 Ron Paul 55:4
My legislation is simple. It establishes that
airport security screeners are not immune
from any U.S. law regarding physical contact
with another person, making images of another
person, or causing physical harm
through the use of radiation-emitting machinery
on another person. It means they are subject
to the same laws as the rest of us.
2010 Ron Paul 55:5
Imagine if the political elites in our country
were forced to endure the same conditions at
the airport as business travelers, families, senior
citizens, and the rest of us. Perhaps this
problem could be quickly resolved if every
cabinet secretary, every Member of Congress,
and every department head in the Obama administration
were forced to submit to the same
degrading screening process as the people
who pay their salaries.
2010 Ron Paul 55:6
I warned at the time of the creation of the
TSA that an unaccountable government entity
in control of airport security would provide neither
security nor defend our basic freedom to
travel. Yet the vast majority of both Republicans
and Democrats then in Congress willingly
voted to create another unaccountable,
bullying agency—in a simple-minded and unprincipled
attempt to appease public passion
in the wake of 9ñ11. Sadly, as we see with
the steady TSA encroachment on our freedom
and dignity, my fears in 2001 were justified.
2010 Ron Paul 55:7
The solution to the need for security at U.S.
airports is not a government bureaucracy. The
solution is to allow the private sector, preferably
the airlines themselves, to provide for
the security of their property. As a recent article
in Forbes magazine eloquently stated,
“The airlines have enormous sums of money
riding on passenger safety, and the notion that
a government bureaucracy has better incentives
to provide safe travels than airlines with
billions of dollars worth of capital and goodwill
on the line strains credibility.”
In the meantime,
I hope we can pass this legislation and
protect Americans from harm and humiliation
when they choose to travel.
