WASHINGTON, D.C. - Later tonight or early tomorrow, House Republican leaders will likely strip out provisions in two separate bills authored by Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) to authorize the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to hire the necessary number of airport screeners to keep our nation’s air travelers safe -- and keep average passenger wait times under10 minutes. The Senate had approved the Lautenberg measure by a vote of 85-12.

Since 9/11, Congress has capped the number of screeners TSA is permitted to hire. The Senate version of both the DHS appropriations bill and the Port Security bill contained Lautenberg amendments to strike the cap.

“Anyone who has taken a flight recently knows that since 9/11, long lines have been the rule rather than the exception. The Senate offered our travelers relief from those lines--relief that made them safer and got them to their planes more quickly,” said Lautenberg. “Now, Americans can blame the House leadership when airport security lines snake across the terminal."

The current cap of 45,000 security screeners, as authored by House Republican leaders, is not based on security needs, but rather is touted as an ideological measure to limit the size of the federal government. During debate on the Senate floor, Lautenberg pointed out that the TSA has been forced to use extensive overtime and part-time employees, which is less effective because 50 percent turnover rates generally prevent these part-time employees from reaching the experience and training levels of the full-time screener workforce. This cap is also believed to prevent TSA from providing sufficient screeners to airports who want to start new commercial passenger airline service—including airports in New Castle, DE; Marathon, FL; and Sonoma, CA.

Last month, in the wake of a foiled terrorist plot to detonate liquid explosives aboard U.S.-bound airplanes from London, U.K., the Department of Homeland Security upgraded the terror warning level to the highest level for certain international flights, and raised the alert level to “high” for the rest of the U.S. commercial aviation system. This heightened alert highlighted the need for more TSA screeners to maintain adequate levels of security. During the weeks following the DHS announcement, passengers waited in long security lines as TSA tried to meet the needs of the traveling public. Worldwide, it is estimated that 400,000 passengers experienced significant delays or cancellations as a result of heightened security measures.

Before the London incident, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff had proposed that TSA take over additional duties, including ID checks of passengers at passenger checkpoints.