Washington – The Transportation Security Screening Modernization Act passed the Senate unanimously early this morning, taking a crucial step closer to becoming law.
The American Trucking Associations thanked Senators Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), Jon Tester (D-Montana), Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska), and Angus King (I-Maine) for introducing the bill and moving it forward in the Senate. ATA has been at the forefront of the push to pass this bipartisan legislation to eliminate redundant fees and background checks for essential supply chain workers.
“After years of paying the price for an inefficient credentialing system, relief is finally within sight for truck drivers and other essential transportation workers who keep our supply chain running. The Senate’s passage of the Transportation Security Screening Modernization Act is a victory for commonsense and puts us on the verge of eliminating unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles imposed by the federal government that waste time and money,” said ATA President & CEO Chris Spear. “By streamlining the administration of these important programs, this bipartisan legislation will make it easier and less costly for hardworking Americans to obtain the credentials they need to do their jobs. We commend the Members of Congress who authored this bipartisan bill to support truckers, and we look forward to working with them to ensure this bill becomes law by the end of this year.”
Beginning last year, ATA assembled a group of over 150 organizations representing trucking, rail, energy, organized labor, agriculture, third-party logistics providers and other key supply chain stakeholders in support of the Transportation Security Screening Modernization Act, which was authored 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).
The bill has been a mainstay in ATA’s Call on Washington program this year, which has facilitated 700 meetings between ATA’s member companies and lawmakers on Capitol Hill since the beginning of this Congress. ATA also leveraged its 50-state federation to put pressure on key Members of Congress. As part of this comprehensive, ongoing advocacy effort, ATA President and CEO Chris Spear headed to Capitol Hill to meet one-on-one with the bill’s original sponsors and committee leaders to shore up support.
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. By eliminating duplicative screenings and harmonizing these programs, the bill would codify formal recommendations by the Government Accountability Office dating back to 2007. These recommendations were reaffirmed in 2020 in a comprehensive security assessment conducted by the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center. 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), and the House Committee on Homeland Security, led by Congressmen Mark Green (R-Tennessee) and Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi), previously voted to advance the bill. It now awaits final passage by the full House.