In its first few hours back on Capitol Hill, the 110th Congress announced a bill that includes security reform in the aviation domain — recommendations from the 9/11 Commission which have not yet come to fruition. Among those recommendations are: required inspection of cargo on passenger planes, giving TSA screeners whistleblower protection, and providing an appeals process for people mistakenly on the no-fly list. Leslie Miller reports for the Associated Press:

Democrats say their legislation bill would implement the unfinished 9/11 Commission recommendations that fall under the Homeland Security Committee’s jurisdiction.

The bill would require private companies to prepare for terrorism and the government would have to inspect cargo on passenger planes and shipping containers leaving the largest ports. Airport screeners would be given whistleblower protection, money would be set aside to develop technology for detecting explosives at checkpoints and an appeals process would be established for airline passengers mistaken for terrorists on watch lists.

The bill will be brought forth on January 9th, as part of a one-hundred hour legislative blitz. House Homeland Security Chairman, Peter King, does not like the idea because it bypasses the Homeland Security committee. “Homeland security is far too important an issue to play politics with, and any new homeland security measure should be given the review and oversight it deserves,” King wrote to Rep. Bennie Thompson, the lead sponsor of the bill.

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