Top Aide Says President Would Sign Bill Federalizing Airport Workers

Just one day after President Bush criticized airport security legislation that would require all baggage and passenger screeners to be federal employees, a top White House aide said Bush would nevertheless sign the bill if Congress approved it.

“He wouldn’t want to have to sign it, but he would,” said Andrew H. Card Jr., White House chief of staff, on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

That concession could weaken the hand of House Republicans who have bitterly fought federalizing airport workers, just as they head into a crucial face-off over the issue this week.

The House is scheduled Wednesday to debate a bill to beef up airport security in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But unlike the bill passed by the Senate on a 100-0 vote earlier this month, the House bill would not require all airport security screeners to become federal employees.

House Republican leaders have been struggling to round up enough votes to pass their alternative, which would require federal supervision of screeners but not necessarily make them federal employees.

House leaders won an important boost when Bush, in a letter last week and in his Saturday radio address, endorsed their bill.

Despite his reservations over federalizing security workers, Bush has never threatened to veto the Senate bill. And Card’s comments Sunday confirm what many Republicans reluctantly assumed: That if push came to shove, Bush would sign the Senate bill rather than risk vetoing a bill he had said was urgently needed to restore public confidence in flying.

“It’s been an uphill fight,” said a senior House GOP leadership aide.

Another point of contention is the provision of the Senate bill that would give the Justice Department responsibility for administering the new law; Bush and House Republicans want the Transportation Department in charge.

But the most politically charged issue is the proposal to hire more than 18,000 federal workers to replace the privately employed screeners at the nation’s airports.

House Republican leaders argue that federal workers would be harder to fire if they were incompetent, and that private sector workers would be just as effective under federal supervision. House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas), speaking Sunday on “Meet the Press,” also argued that Democrats want to federalize airport security because it would expand the union work force, which tends to vote Democratic.

But proponents of federalizing airport screeners, including Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), argue that government control is the best way to ensure security and consistency across the nation in carrying out what is essentially a law enforcement function.

“This is a law enforcement issue,” McCain said Sunday on CNN’s “Late Edition.” “If you use the critics’ logic, then we should contract out the Border Patrol and the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.

“And for the life of me, I do not understand why the issue of whether these employees would be unionized or not would have any relevance when we’re talking about the safety and security in lives of American citizens.”