I’m writing to you today from my Gallatin office where Dave and I just hosted our annual sendoff luncheon for our 6th District U.S. military service academy appointees. It is always a privilege for me to be able to meet with these students and their families, treat them to a special reception in their honor, and personally thank them for their commitment to serving our country. Before I head back to Washington next week, I wanted to share these quick updates with you:
Traveling Soon? Then You’ll Want to Read About This Letter
If you’ve flown out of Nashville International Airport recently, or just turned on the news, you may have noticed that the security lines at our nation’s airports are becoming a real problem for travelers. Most Tennesseans don’t mind being a little inconvenienced if the system actually works to keep them safe, but it doesn’t. An internal investigation released last summer found that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) had a 96% failure rate in detecting weapons and fake explosives. When travelers are waiting upwards of 90 minutes to board a plane, and they’re not even any safer as a result – it’s time to do something different. That is why I sent a letter to the TSA this week highlighting the need for privatization of airport screenings.
TSA states publicly that it “contracts security screening services at commercial airports to qualified private companies” yet, today, only 22 airports have established such contracts. My letter demands to know why. Congress must ensure that the TSA’s culture and policies aren’t standing in the way of allowing businesses the ability to compete for these opportunities. The unacceptably long wait times at airports across the country cannot become the new normal. There’s a better way forward and it’s called the private sector.
Working to Defund Sanctuary Cities
Sanctuary cities flout our laws and put their own citizens at risk. We need only look at the tragic, 2015 murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco to see the grave danger of allowing cities to ignore federal immigration policy. Last year, the House passed a standalone bill by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) to defund sanctuary cities with my support, but the problem is, we know that bill faces a Democratic filibuster if it is ever brought up for debate in the Senate.
Sometimes, if you want to get a conservative measure enacted into law, you must attach it to broader pieces of legislation. So that’s exactly what I did last week. When the House took up the Energy & Water Development appropriations bill, I went to the House floor and offered an amendment that ensuring that NO funds from that bill would be given to sanctuary cities. Some of my colleagues scratched their hands and asked why I would bring up sanctuary cities on an energy and water bill. My answer is simple – amnesty for lawbreakers impacts every aspect of our society; our jobs, our security, and in the case of Kate Steinle, a young, innocent woman’s life.
I’m proud to tell you that my amendment passed the House of Representatives. You can watch a video of my remarks on the House floor at the time of the vote HERE. Unfortunately, the underlying bill to which my amendment was attached ultimately failed because of a poison-pill amendment offered by House Democrats. That’s why I’m committed to continuing to bring up this issue again and again – because when cities put their citizens at risk in defiance of federal law – there’s no reason in this world to continue spending federal money there.