GOP Voted Against Funding TSA Measures Like Explosives Detection Systems

While Republicans are busy blaming President Obama for the Christmas Day terror event on Flight 253, they’re ignoring their own unwillingness to vote against funding for the Transportation Safety Administration, and South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint’s hold on appointing a TSA chief out of fear of unionization.

Republicans have cast votes against the key TSA funding measure that the 2010 appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security contained, which included funding for the TSA, including for explosives detection systems and other aviation security measures. In the June 24 vote in the House, leading Republicans including John Boehner, Pete Hoekstra, Mike Pence and Paul Ryan voted against the bill, amid a procedural dispute over the appropriations process, a Democrat points out. A full 108 Republicans voted against the conference version, including Boehner, Hoekstra, Pence, Michelle Bachmann, Marsha Blackburn, Darrell Issa and Joe Wilson.

The conference bill included more than $4 billion for “screening operations,” including $1.1 billion in funding for explosives detection systems, with $778 million for buying and installing the systems.

DeMint responds that “Democrats have only themselves to blame” for there not being a TSA administrator, but there is so far no explanation for the unwillingness to fund needed measures to secure our safety.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.