Senate passes bill to end lawmakers’ special treatment at airport security

HUNT VALLEY, Md. (TNND) — The Senate passed a bill Thursday that would require lawmakers to wait in airport security lines just like everybody else.

The chamber agreed to the End Special Treatment for Congress at Airports Act through unanimous consent, a process to expedite consideration. Legislators would be unable to leverage their official status to pass through security quicker than the public.

“I am glad the Senate has agreed with this commonsense bill to prevent those of us who pass the laws, or in this case refuse to pass the laws funding [the Department of Homeland Security] appropriations, to prevent us from receiving special privileges,” Senator John Cornyn, the Texas Republican who introduced the bill, said after its passage.

The Transportation Security Administration, which controls airport security, has been operating without funding while its parent department, DHS, awaits appropriations from Congress.

“Maybe, just maybe, if Congress has to live under the same laws that everybody else does, it will motivate us to get our work done, in other words, to fund the Department of Homeland Security so no American, so no air traveler will have to suffer the disruption and the tribulations that many, many travelers are having to experience now,” Cornyn added.

Airport security has slowed across the country since funding for DHS dried up last month.

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