WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, Wednesday stood with Aviation Subcommittee Chairman John Mica, R-Fla., to introduce an airport security bill in the House that would federalize far fewer security employees than the Senate version currently under consideration.
DeLay -- who strongly opposes any plan to make all security personnel federal employees -- said that a private-public partnership offers better results through accountability.
"Government has trouble enforcing its own regulations on itself," DeLay said. "A bureaucracy shelters itself from accountability."
Based on principles suggested by President Bush shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, the bill follows the models used by European nations that keep between 10 and 25 percent of employees as federal security employees, with the remainder from private firms.
"In a similar way to the president's proposal, the percentage of government employees in the European and Israeli models are targeted within management positions to achieve the desired level of oversight," he said. "Federal workers aren't a panacea for safety."
The announcement by the GOP House members came after a day that frustrated Senate supporters of the current airline security proposal, which supporters say has enough votes to pass with federalization intact, with long delays as members attempted to reach an agreement on how to proceed.
Besides the fight over federalization -- which is supported by most Democrats and several Republicans -- the Senate bill has bogged down over what amendments should be considered at the same time.
One controversial amendment would extend unemployment benefits for airline industry workers who have been laid off in the aftermath of the terror attacks. Pushed by Sen. Jean Carnahan, D-Mo., including the proposal in the airline security bill makes some Republicans uncomfortable and has hamstrung the leadership's ability to get a unanimous agreement that would end debate, allow for a final vote and let the Senate move on.
According to GOP lobbyists and strategists, the Republican objection to including the provision in this bill -- as opposed to the anticipated economic stimulus bill that Congress will soon consider -- is more tactical than substantive.
"We aren't that against the Carnahan amendment," said one lobbyist. "It's just that if we consider it here instead of in the economic package, we can't use it to get some things that (Republicans) want, like corporate tax cuts."
So the Senate continues to deliberate behind-the-scenes over a bill that everyone agrees will pass on its merits whenever it gets to the floor for a final vote.
But the House -- which was on-track to approve a copy of the Senate bill before DeLay's announcement Wednesday -- seems poised for a bruising fight over federalization. Because the Senate appears to have the votes to pass federalization, conservatives will use the House to fight out the details. Congressional staff said that they expect the federalization measure to have enough votes in the House as well, but with strong opposition from the Majority Whip and other leadership-level conservatives, it will be harder for the federalization supporters to prevail, even with a majority of votes.
