Paying Off Unions Trumps Airport Safety

It's bad enough there are security and safety issues at our airports. It's even worse when Democrats are looking to throw a bone to the unions that helped get them elected while safety is an afterthought.

Elections have ramifications, but you knew that already, didn't you?

Unions vs. Security

It's getting to be a full-time job keeping track of the favors that Democrats in Congress are doing for Big Labor. The latest two episodes are especially notable because they'd benefit unions at the expense of national security.

First up is Senator Jim DeMint's (R., S.C.) proposal to bar certain convicted felons from working in ports. Members of Congress professed to be outraged last year when a few U.S. ports would have been managed by Dubai Ports World. But a far larger concern is that 750,000 workers currently have unescorted access to secure port areas, and felons are obvious recruitment targets for any number of bad actors, including terrorists.

Mr. DeMint offered this amendment last year as part of the port security legislation. Democrats unanimously consented to it on the Senate floor, only to gut it later under the cover of a House-Senate conference. This was done at the request of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which later bragged about its political clout.

Mr. DeMint was back trying again last week, and every Senate Democrat once again voted for his amendment. However, they also voted for a separate amendment from Hawaii's Daniel Inouye that would allow future Administrations to delete the DeMint requirements. Both amendments now go to House-Senate conference, and with Democrats in the majority it's not hard to guess which one will emerge in the final bill.