U.S. Senate panel votes to extend airport screening deadline

A U.S. Senate panel voted
to extend by one year a Dec. 31 deadline to begin screening all
checked luggage with explosive-detection machines at as many as 40
U.S. airports.

Airports in Texas, Florida, Georgia, California and other
states will need an additional year rather than the six months
proposed in a bill introduced Tuesday, said Senator Kay Bailey
Hutchison, a Texas Republican who successfully lengthened the
proposed extension. The legislation now goes to the full Senate.

A law passed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to improve
airport security requires the government to start screening all
checked airport bags with explosive-detection machines by year
end. Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and McCarran
International Airport in Las Vegas are among airports that have
said engineering difficulties, costs and a lack of workers and
space will prevent them from meeting the deadline.

The government and lawmakers haven’t named the airports that
would miss the deadline. Representative Kay Granger, a Texas
Republican who backed legislation delaying the deadline, has said
the exemptions are mainly needed at the largest U.S. airports.

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Companies that make explosive-detection machines the
Transportation Department is using to meet the deadline include
InVision Technologies Inc., L-3 Communications Holdings Inc.,
Smiths Group Plc, Thermo Electron Corp. and Ion Track Inc. General
Electric Co. has agreed to buy closely-held Ion Track for an
undisclosed amount.
Bloomberg News

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