The following statement can be attributed to Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-MA), a senior member of the House Homeland Security Committee, on the introduction of the bill to implement the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations, which include a number of Markey-authored measures:

"Under Democratic leadership, the House is now taking long-overdue steps to close the dangerous air cargo security loophole that has left airline passengers and crew members vulnerable to another deadly terrorist attack.  We are also going to plug the wide open loophole through which thousands of containers are arriving in U.S. ports without first being screened overseas for nuclear materials or bombs."

"Democrats are fulfilling key recommendations of the 9/11 Commission by strengthening the security measures applied to the billions of pounds of air cargo transported in the belly of passenger planes every year.  This Congress will be siding with the families of the victims of the September 11th attacks and the airline pilots and crew members as we require all cargo on passenger planes to be screened.  The American people deserve to know that when they fly on planes, cargo underneath their feet is as rigorously checked as they and their bags are screened.  Americans also deserve to know that commerce doesn’t trump homeland security needs when it comes to securing our ports and the containers coming in through them."

For more than three years, Rep. Markey has worked to close these dangerous security gaps as a senior member of the House Homeland Security Committee.