The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“FOREIGN WORKERS AND U.S. AIRCRAFT” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H8795-H8796 on July 24, 2009.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
FOREIGN WORKERS AND U.S. AIRCRAFT
(Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)
Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, American taxpayers spend millions of dollars a year screening people who board an airplane. We check IDs and roll-on luggage. We check purses, pockets and computers, and we take off our shoes. We check everything that goes through the door. But the next attack on our country is probably not going to be because somebody is flying in an airplane. It will probably be because somebody has access to our airports and our airplanes who shouldn't.
Byron Burris of WFFA in Dallas reports that the San Antonio Aerospace facility in Texas has hired 767 foreign airplane mechanics over the past 2 years without a real background check. These mechanics come from 45 countries, including Vietnam, Ethiopia, Egypt, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, Jordan, China and Sudan. These people work on American airplanes.
The State Department says it does a ``criminal'' background check, but reports indicate those checks are of poor quality and sometimes are left up to a third party.
We are ignoring the obvious when it comes to airline safety. Foreign workers with shady or unknown backgrounds should not have access to American aircraft.
And that's just the way it is.
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