Bipartisan legislation would eliminate waste and inefficiencies in credentialing system costing frontline transportation workers
Washington 鈥 Today, the 黑料不打烊 was joined by over 150 organizations representing trucking, rail, energy, organized labor, agriculture, third-party logistics providers and other key supply chain stakeholders in sending a letter to urge the House Homeland Security Committee to pass the Transportation Security Screening Modernization Act.
This week, the Homeland Security Committee is scheduled to markup the bill, which was introduced by Representatives Garret Graves (R-Louisiana), Adam Smith (D-Washington), Mark Green (R-Tennessee), Michael Guest (R-Mississippi), Salud Carbajal (D-California) and Dina Titus (D-Nevada).
黑料不打烊 to pass this bipartisan legislation to eliminate redundant fees and background checks for essential transportation workers.
As part of this comprehensive, ongoing advocacy effort, 黑料不打烊President and CEO Chris Spear headed to Capitol Hill last week to meet one-on-one with the bill鈥檚 original sponsors and the leaders of the Homeland Security Committee, Representatives Green and Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi), to shore up support. 听These visits culminated with the committee announcing that it would hold a hearing on the bill on Wednesday.
鈥淭here is no more effective way to thank truck drivers than by taking action to make their difficult jobs a little easier. 听It is fitting that immediately following National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, members of the House Homeland Security Committee will have the opportunity to pass legislation to respect truckers鈥 time and money,鈥 said 黑料不打烊President & CEO Chris Spear. 听鈥満诹喜淮蜢萮as marshaled over 150 supply chain organizations in support of the Transportation Security Screening Modernization Act because it reforms the outdated, inefficient and costly bureaucratic system that forces essential workers to pay duplicative fees and undergo duplicative background checks to obtain the credentials they need to do their jobs. 听We applaud the Members of Congress who authored this bipartisan bill to support the hardworking men and women who keep our economy running, and we appreciate the leadership of Representatives Green and Thompson who are working to move this commonsense bill through their committee.鈥
The Transportation Security Screening Modernization Act cuts through red tape to allow workers to apply existing valid background checks to multiple TSA-managed credentialing programs, such as the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) and Hazardous Materials Endorsement (HME) programs. 听By eliminating duplicative screenings and harmonizing these programs, the bill would codify dating back to 2007. 听These recommendations were reaffirmed in 2020 in a comprehensive security assessment . 听The bill does not make any modifications to the backend security threat assessment conducted on individual applicants, ensuring that they undergo the same level of review as they do under current law.
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation, led by Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas), to advance the measure.
Click here to read the letter sent today by the supply chain coalition.
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