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GOP senators call for DOJ to block no-fly list for unruly passengers.
A group of Republican senators is pushing back against an effort to create a government blacklist of violent and disruptive passengers.
The group’s logic is that a no-fly list for unruly passengers opposed to onboard mask mandates “would seemingly equate them to terrorists.”
In a letter to US Attorney General Merrick Garland, the eight senators said that since almost 75 percent of the nearly 6,000 incidents aboard flights last year revolved around the federal mask mandate, it would be unfair to punish them for their beliefs.
“While we strongly condemn any violence towards airline workers, there is significant uncertainty around the efficacy of this mandate, as highlighted by the CEO of Southwest Airlines during a recent Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing,” the senators wrote in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland dated Monday.
“Creating a federal ‘no-fly’ list for unruly passengers who are skeptical of this mandate would seemingly equate them to terrorists who seek to actively take the lives of Americans and perpetrate attacks on the homeland.
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“The (Transportation Security Administration) was created in the wake of 9/11 to protect Americans from future horrific attacks, not to regulate human behavior onboard flights.”
The eight Republicans signing the letter are Sens. Cynthia M. Lummis (Wyo.), Mike Lee (Utah), James Lankford (Okla.), Marco Rubio (Fla.), Kevin Cramer (N.D.), Ted Cruz (Tex.), John Hoeven (N.D.) and Rick Scott (Fla.).
Federal Aviation Administration data show nearly 500 unruly passenger incidents have been reported in the first six weeks of 2022, for a total of more than 6,400 since the start of 2021.
Unions representing airline workers have argued that a centralized list is necessary because a passenger banned from one airline can simply book a flight on another carrier.
In a statement Tuesday, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA called the eight senators’ letter “irresponsible and political brinkmanship that puts our economic security at risk right along with our lives.”
“Homeland security is homeland security,” said the union’s president, Sara Nelson.
“Our flights are under attack by a small number of people and it has to stop. … This is not about ‘masks,’ and the worst attacks have nothing to do with masks. You’re either for protecting crew and passengers from these attacks or you’re against.”
