Dr. Coburn offered amendments to improve S. 4, the 9/11 Commission bill; however, the Senate rejected his amendments to offer transparency, reduce duplication and offer sunshine to the bill.

Amendment No. 345 would streamline the interoperable communications grant programs administered by the Department of Homeland Security to ensure accountability and fiscal discipline.  Click here to read more about this amendment. 

Amendment No. 294 would provide necessary congressional oversight and re-authorization of the 9/11 Commission bill by inserting a sunset date of 5 years (December 31, 2012) so every dollar authorized for homeland security goes to the most critical threats, and the nation’s most critical vulnerabilities.  Click here to read more about this amendment.

Amendment No. 325 would require the Department of Homeland Security to comply with the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (IPIA) before funds in S.4 can be spent on grant programs within the Department of Homeland Security.  Click here to read more about this amendment. 

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste and the National Taxpayers Union supported Dr. Coburn's amendments. 

Dr. Coburn opposed the provision in the 9/11 Commission bill to unionize TSA workers. 

The terrorist attacks of September 11 changed the way America thought about screening airline passengers and their baggage.  After 9/11, baggage screening was made a federal responsibility.  The decision for the federal government to take over an entire industry was made only after it was believed there was no other choice than to intervene in the area of air travel.

In light of this fact, Congress gave TSA personnel flexibilities shared by few other federal employees to reflect that the mission of the agency was not like that of other employees.  The agency would require personnel who were flexible, mobile and nimble so they could react quickly in the face of security needs, and could not be bogged down by the bureaucracy and red tape so common in personnel systems in the federal government. 

Nowhere is the slowness of government more evident than in its practice of collective bargaining.  Collective bargaining is intended to be a deliberative negotiation and is not meant to be a speedy method of decision-making.

For this reason, Congress wisely allowed TSA officials to prohibit collective bargaining between it and its employees.  It was understood that collective bargaining would only have a negative impact upon airport security.  Now, for reasons that are not quite clear, Congress is moving toward reversing its decision of only a few years ago and allowing TSA employees to engage in collective bargaining.

Congress seems to be making a decision for political reasons that Americans may ultimately pay for with decreased security at our nation’s airports.

“The job of a TSO [Transportation Security Officer] is one in which you don’t know whether you had an emergency until it’s over – and in the aviation business that is too late.”  The Honorable Kip Hawley, Administrator of TSA, on why TSO’s should not collectively bargain despite the ability of Capitol Police officers to do so.

“[There are] a bedeviling array of dots out there and we have the responsibility to make sure that not one of them is allowed to progress and become an attack on the United States. And so we constantly try to move and adjust – you cannot be sure until it’s too late that you’ve had an emergency. You do not get an advanced warning.”  Mr. Kip Hawley.

“[Under a collective bargaining arrangement] I have grave concerns about our ability to move and sustain our security strategy.” – Mr. Kip Hawley

Dr. Coburn:  “[TSA employees] are not going to negotiate over wages, but they’re going to negotiate everything else that has to do with running security at the airport on an [emergency] basis all the time?”  Mr. Hawley: “Yes, sir.”  Sen. Coburn: “I think the case is closed.”

Click here to read more findings from the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee hearing on TSA collective bargaining.