mr. katko: mr. speaker i have no more speakers. if the gentlewoman from new york has no further speakers, i'm prepared to close when she does. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. miss rice: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for the remainder of the time. miss rice: thank you, mr. speaker. together with chairman katko, i'm proud of the work we have done on the subcommittee on transportation security to address this and other pressing transportation security issues within t.s.a. in a constructive bipartisan way. the four bipartisan t.s.a. bills that we are considering today are a testament to that effort and to what we can accomplish when we work together to solve real problems. i hope we continue to make real progress together and i urge my colleagues to support h.r. 2750. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york yiel

the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the gentleman from new york, mr. katko, to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2770 as amened on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 2770, a bill to amend the homeland security act of 2002 to provide for maintenance of certain projects at airports. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill as amended. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] the speaker pro tempore: the yeas are 380, the nays are zero. 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from

. >> i want to follow up on a line of questions that i believe mr. katko had addressed earlier and that's about our air marshals flying first class. i've heard some horror stories to be quite honest with you. in fact, i've heard a story that's been communicated to us where there were like six air marshals flying first class. there was another group on a competing airline that the flight got cancelled and they came over and wanted the first class cabin and the whole first class cabin was taken up by air marshals. that doesn't seem right. can you provide to us how often your employees are flying first class? i flew first class one time. that wasn't by choice. that was the only seat that was available. my three sons got to fighting about who was sitting in first class and i resolved it by sitting there myself. >> mr. congressman, i can't elaborate in an open hearing about our tactical seating. i would be happy to discuss it with you in private and answer any questions you have. i will assure you our impact upon the aviation industry, we view it as a partnersh

i want to follow up on a line of questions that i believe the chairman of the subcommittee, mr. katko, had addressed earlier. that's about air marshals flying first class. it's my understanding and i heard some horror stories to be quite honest with you. i heard a story that's been communicated to us where there were like six air marshals flying first class and another group on a competing airline -- the flight got cancelled, they came over and they wanted first class seats also and then the whole first class cabin was taken up by air marshals. that doesn't seem right. can you provide to us how often they're flying first class. i flew first class one time, that was not by choice, that was the only seat to do. i was with my family, and they started to fight about who was going to go to first class and i decided it was going to be me. how do they get to five first class? >> i can't ark in the meeting about our seating. but i will assure you as i stated before our impact upon the aviation industry we view it as a partnership. you know, as a matt over practice, those things are managed to

katko: the chair now recognizes mr. walker from north carolina for five minutes. rep. walker: mr. allison, thank you for being here with us today. it is a privilege to get to put a face with a title. my question is, as a matter of policy, do federal air marshals flight out of one airport to their home? and are there incidents were a federal air marshal needs to lie and off-duty commute to an airport before on assignment begins? can you give me a backdrop on how that plays out? roderick: the chairman mention that to me yesterday, and i have not heard that. we are looking through industry engagement to get more information. as a matter of policy, that is not something we do. that is not something we have ever done. as long as i am director, that is not something we will do. i do not see a need to do that. rep. walker: but you are looking into the reports we here? you are taking a look at that? roderick: yes, sir. i want you to understand i have been fairly busy over the last year. my strategy going forward is to really start looking out and having more conversations with the airline

katko: the chair recognizes the gentlelady ms. rice. rep. rice: thank you, mr. chairman. mr.allison, if you were given a wish list of improvements you think you could make to your agency, what would they be? roderick: the first thing i would put on that wish list in bold letters is the ability to hire. as i go across the country and talk to federal air marshals, the number one question i get is, what is the future of the organization? not being able to hire has a detrimental effect on the workforce. there is a sort of feeling of dying on the vine. if i was able to hire, i would be able to open up and allow employees to move to places where they would want to go, conceivably. the workforce is getting older right? a lot of people that we hired in the beginning, 9/11, as i told the chairman yesterday -- they are going to be walking out the door 2020, 2021. i asked the chairman for his support in working through this problem to get to, where do we want to be in five years? that is the number one issue i would put on my wish list, in big, bold letters. i think the other thing that