1 year ago
The Senate is moving ahead with a proposal by Sen. Ted Cruz that would allow political VIPs to be whisked through airport security lines, reducing the chances of embarrassing snapshots going viral.
Cruz’s amendment, which he says is needed to ensure public officials’ safety amid a rise in threats, was appended on Thursday to a major aviation policy bill. Though the bill still has more steps before it becomes law, its inclusion at this stage was a win for the Texas Republican, who was infamously photographed by a gawker while en route to Cancún during a brutal winter storm in 2021.
But the language may not sit well with many airports, or their police departments, some of which have said complying would be burdensome and distract them from their core duties.
Cruz’s language would give political VIPs including lawmakers, federal judges, Cabinet members and some of their family and staff a dedicated security escort at airports, along with expedited screening outside of public view. The amendment would place most of the onus of doing this on the Transportation Security Administration, though it gives the agency a big out by saying it can simply arrange for an escort through other law enforcement bodies — including airport police.
The amendment endorsed by the committee on Thursday had been modified from an earlier draft obtained by POLITICO, though the contours of what it seeks to do are largely the same.
Last week the head of a nonprofit representing airport police said Cruz’s earlier proposal would be “a burden to airport police agencies,” especially because federal budgets already do not adequately fund airport police units. It would also divert police from “crime suppression and security functions at airports, which is our fundamental duty,” said Kevin Murphy, executive director of the Airport Law Enforcement Agencies Network.
Instead, Murphy said, any escort duties for political VIPs should be the job of federal law enforcement.
Cruz did not address the amendment during the markup. But previously, Cruz told POLITICO that his amendment seeks to ensure that political VIPs who have received threats in the past or are under an active threat aren’t endangered as they pass through public spaces in airports.
There are “serious security threats facing public officials,” Cruz said last week. “It’s important that we take reasonable measures to keep everyone safe.”
But after Thursday’s markup before the Senate Commerce Committee concluded, Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) said the measure would set a "very dangerous precedent to exempt a class of people from security processes that are essential for our national security.”
The Capitol Police, the force that protects Capitol Hill, said that in 2023 it investigated about 8,000 threats against lawmakers, an increase of 500 over the previous year. And those threats tend to spike in election years, suggesting another bump is on the way.
The Capitol Police maintain a protective detail for congressional leadership on- and off-site, but most rank and file members don’t receive one unless they are the subject of a credible threat.
The modified language that advanced Thursday explicitly outlines which types of law enforcement agencies would be called upon for the escort — for instance, in the case of lawmakers, the Capitol Police.
But it would still give the “appropriate personnel” — in this case, TSA — the responsibility for arranging this escort, and retains the option for TSA to simply hand that duty to airport police.
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