SENATE PASSES AIRPORT SECURITY BILL

SENATE PASSES AIRPORT SECURITY BILL    The Senate unanimously approved a bill Thursday night to strengthen airport security. The bill would create a body of thousands of federal employees to screen baggage, expand the number of air marshals on planes, and give the Federal Aviation Administration authority to decide if pilots could carry firearms on flights if their airlines mandate it.
   The bill now goes to the House for further debate.
   Aside from the federal takeover of screening, the bill is close to the proposal set forth by the Bush administration. The administration wanted to keep airport screeners as private contract employees while increasing federal supervision at airports.
   Ernest F. Hollings, D, S.C., who co-sponsored the bill with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said, with passage of the bill, Americans would “know once and forever that a domestic airline is never going to be used as a weapon of mass destruction” in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
   The Senate legislation calls for a federal takeover of all aspects of airport security, including the use of about 28,000 federal employees for screening, and armed federal guards at U.S. airports. The largest American airports would use federal screeners, and the smaller airports would use federal screeners or deploy local and state law enforcement officials for the job.