mr. speaker , under cover of darkness and hidden from public view , the republican-controlled committee on rules cooked up an unwise , unfair and ill-considered rule that shuts out dozens of democratic amendments designed to close dangerous homeland security loopholes that put the american public at risk . 
for example , one of the amendments would have been one made by the gentleman from connecticut ( mr. shays ) xz4003700 and myself which would have ensured that all cargo which is placed upon passenger planes in the united states was screened , so when the people in this gallery and people around the country step on planes they have to take off their shoes , their bags go through , they are screened , their bags are put in the belly of the plane , they are screened , but the cargo , the cargo , which is placed on the very same plane , is not screened . 
the people on the plane are accompanying their bags . 
the people who are sending cargo are not on the plane . 
al qaeda is like water . 
it looks for the least resistance . 
that on a plane is where the least resistance is , in the cargo bay . 
we should not put americans on planes where the cargo has not been screened knowing that al qaeda continues to place civilian aircraft at the top of their terrorist target list . 
it is wrong for the republicans not to have a debate about this incredible , glaring vulnerability in passenger aircraft as hundreds of millions of americans put their families on planes , especially as we are nearing the fourth anniversary of 9/11 . 
another amendment , one dealing with the hundreds of thousands of shipments of extremely hazardous materials which go through the cities and towns of the united states every single year . 
this is a photograph of one of those hazardous material shipments within a couple of blocks of the capitol . 
the republicans would not put in order an amendment that would ensure that a rule-making by the federal government would be put in place in order to make sure that we would increase the security for the shipment of these hazardous materials through the cities and towns of the united states of america . 
the gentleman from georgia ( mr. barrow ) xz4006280 and i made a request to the committee on rules , let us debate it out here on the house floor , let us debate if we want to put any additional security protections on something , which , for all intents and purposes , has no security around it as it goes through the cities and towns of the united states . 
what a target for al qaeda this would be . 
but the republicans say no debate on that . 
no debate on putting cargo into the bay of passenger planes that people fly every single day across america after they have taken off their shoes . 
mr. speaker , this is wrong . 
the republican party is putting a gag on debate on the most important issues that face the security of america and attacks by al qaeda on our country . 
and this issue , especially the issue of cargo on planes , is an absolute reprehensible neglect of the responsibility that congress has for the flying american public . 
