The attempt by Yemeni terrorists to blow up aircraft with improvised explosives led Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., on Nov. 16 to file the Air Cargo Security Act. Markey was the author of legislation in 2009 that required that air cargo be screened before it was loaded aboard passenger aircraft. The new bill would have extended the 100 percent screening requirement to all-cargo and package express airliners as well.Markey’s bill was referred to the House Homeland Security Committee, which took no further action.
While the bills didn’t make it through the last Congress, lawmakers are free to file them again in the 112th Congress. However, Democrat-sponsored bills are likely to find a less receptive audience in a House under Republican control.
