mr. speaker , the republican leadership in the committee on rules have done it again . 
once again , they have bent over backwards for big business while putting the safety of the american public at risk . 
last night , on a party-line vote , the republicans in the committee on rules refused to allow the house to consider two important amendments which would have improved safety on airplanes and would have notified the flying public about the safety of the airplanes they fly on . 
currently , cargo that is transported on commercial airplanes is not inspected . 
even though our passenger luggage is inspected by tsa , the cargo that is transported on those same planes is not inspected . 
the tsa has not implemented regulations as the law requires them to do to inspect the cargo on these planes , and now the republican leadership has taken direct action to prevent these inspections . 
yesterday , the gentleman from massachusetts ( mr. markey ) xz4002530 asked that the committee on rules make in order an amendment that would have required all cargo to be screened within 3 years . 
we all go through these metal detectors . 
we all have to take off our shoes and empty out our pockets . 
we do that because we want to be safe . 
certainly we should screen all cargo . 
additionally , the gentleman from connecticut ( mr. shays ) xz4003700 offered an amendment that would require tsa to notify passengers flying on a plane carrying uninspected cargo , the rationale being if we are not going to inspect the cargo the flying public should at least have the right to know that they are flying on a plane with uninspected cargo . 
mr. speaker , i do not think that is too much to ask for , but the republican leadership in the committee on rules decided not to make these amendments in order . 
they decided not to allow a debate . 
they decided not to allow a vote . 
i asked the distinguished chairman of the committee on rules why these amendments were not made in order , and all he could say is they decided not to . 
that is not an answer . 
these amendments would make our skies safer . 
they are no-brainers , and yet the republicans refuse to even allow us to debate and vote on these amendments . 
instead of taking action to protect the american public , the committee on rules decided to protect the interest of the airlines and the cargo shippers . 
mr. speaker , legislation on homeland security should result in a safer public . 
unfortunately , the leadership is going in exactly the wrong direction when they denied these two amendments from being made in order . 
