TSA critics have their champion: Sen. Rand Paul has dropped a pair of bills that would essentially end the agency as Americans know it.
The Kentucky Republican introduced legislation that would gut the Transportation Security Administration’s government-operated screening program and establish a passenger bill of rights. One bill would require that the mostly federalized program be turned over to private screeners and allow airports — with Department of Homeland Security approval — to select companies to handle the work.
The second bill would permit travelers to opt out of pat-downs and be rescreened, allow them to call a lawyer when detained, increase the role of dogs in explosive detection, let passengers “appropriately object to mistreatment,” allow children 12 years old and younger to avoid “unnecessary pat-downs” and require the distribution of the new rights at airports.
That legislation also would let airports decide to privatize if wanted and expand TSA’s PreCheck program for trusted travelers.
Read more atPolitico.
