No help from the Senate regarding the TSA
 

I wrote to my Senator to discuss some of my frustrations with the continued liquid ban, BDOs, and gate screening, among other TSA insanities.

Some highlights of Senator Boxer's response included:

"Thank you for contacting me about the current economic crisis. I appreciate hearing from you, and I want to assure you that Congress and the Obama Administration are moving swiftly to address this critical issue."

To get our economy back on track, the very top priority must be to save and create jobs. That is why I supported H.R.1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which President Obama signed into law on February 17, 2009. This legislation will inject $787 billion into our economy through tax cuts and spending on projects to save and create jobs. It will make significant investments in vital infrastructure projects, give much-needed aid to our states, and help to create and save millions of American jobs."

In other words, she didn't read anything I wrote.
I'm open to suggestions for other ways to attract the attention of Congress.

I get that from Robert Menendez all the time.

Keep a copy of your correspondence, send it and the response to your local paper.

Call your CongressCritters office in D.C. (don't call the local office) and (1) identify yourself as a constituent, and (2) ask who handles legislation and matters regarding the TSA.

Talk to that individual - first make sure you have the right person, i.e., "I'm a constituent in [state/Senate] [district/House] and I am looking for the staffer that handles matters concerning the TSA, would that happen to be you?" ... "Are you the senior staffer that oversees this, or is it just you?" -- start by fishing around a bit.

After you're done fishing, get to your complaint and be assertive. If the staffer tries to bring the conversation off-course, bring it back ... "I'm aware there is no legislation on the table affecting (issue) at the moment, but aren't you working on the budget at the moment, which would affect their funding?" ...

Ask questions when you speak to this person and request that they follow-up with you personally. Sometimes when a staffer tries to drive you into a deadend "ok, will let the senator know your thoughts" -- turn around and ask what is the senator's view? Could you find out and let me know? ... or start talking about oversight with that particular issue. Obviously you can't keep dragging the call on if the staffer wants to drop the topic and dismiss you, but at least you've given it your best shot and hopefully a commitment to get a response on a particular item the individual cannot answer.

That is how I go about handling complaints with my Senators and House Rep.

I take this approach regardless of the issue. I let them know I'm not calling just to get generic form letter back about the issue a few weeks later only to read cookie cutter boilerplate letter that wastes my time, postal service resources, and paper.

SDF_Traveler

Being very honest here, I think there are bigger issues on our elected representatives' plates than gate screening.

But don't get discouraged and not contact congresscritters, I would say just don't get easily discouraged.

As much as the TSA needs to be re-evaluated, it will take time.

I'm not sure if you noticed, but the TSA issues are really only cared about by a small number of very fundamentalist Flyertalk posters. Your average person on FlyerTalk really doesn't care that much about what most people complain about on here. People who post on FlyerTalk represent a very small sample of the traveling public who in turn represent a very small part of the voting public.

Kudos for reaching out to your Senator and being part of the democratic process, but good luck on getting a Senator to really care about this issue. Given that we're drowning in debt, unemployment and facing the worse economic conditions since the great depression, I highly doubt that you'll find a lot of political will to push in the Senate for the repeal of a minor regulation that is an issue for a small subset of a small subset of a small subset of a small subset of the population.

You might want to consider just letting go. The TSA rules have almost no bearing on either my work or personal travel. I'm not sure why it would be different for others.

JUST LET GO????? Are you kidding? Don't you know that the TSA is COMMUNISM, FASCISM, HITLERISM, TOTALITARIANISM, and everything else bad rolled into ONE?????

Seriously, though, General, I agree with you. But, then again, I'm not one of the subset of the subset, of the subset, of the subset ... .

^

Because it doesn't affect us personally, we should just let it go? the reality that TSA is a shameless, wasteful bureaucracy that contributes nothing in the way of increased security over what existed before TSA was created?

There are bigger issues in Washington, but the TSA has wide-ranging impact:
It's expensive.

It humiliates and hassles tourists and business travelers. I live in a city that counts on tourism, so foreign visitors are less likely to come (and spend money) if our airports are so difficult.

The airlines are struggling, and we need to make flying easier.

If more people drive, the risk of auto accident fatalities is higher, and there is potential for adverse environmental impact.

The TSA does affect my personal and business travels: I'm thinking of turning down a job that would involve greater travel. Why? I don't want to deal with the hassles of flying.

I certainly did not expect a senator to read my letter and write a personal response. I DID expect a staffer to say "we're concerned," or "one of many issues we're looking at," or "thanks for your interest--that's not something we want to work on right now." Instead, I got a lengthy form letter about unrelated issues.

You know, you really ought to do a Google search on articles written about the TSA in the media. Specifically, ones on-line that enable user comments.

Sure, some of them are right out of fourth grade. However, there is a large majority of them that share the disdain of the TSA, its "ideas" and its operation.

You make an excellent point about the horrible economic times. Have you ever given thought that the $6 billion spent annually on something the GAO has even said isn't any better than pre-9/11 might be better spent elsewhere?

Speaking of letting things go, if you are so quick to minimize what's said in here and the people who say it, then why do you repeatedly come in here with your sunny disposition? Why don't you consider "letting it go?"

Maybe your senator just hasn't had her bare feet wanded in secondary yet. Be patient. Tell her nothing's wrong, and to keep lining up.

Write back thanking the Senator for her letter but you are confused as nothing in her response addressed your concerns and you now feel that there is another constituent who has received the Senator's answers to your correspondence. Would they please find their file copy of the Senator's reply to you and provide a copy to you.

Don't forget about Senator Feinstein and your Representative. I agree with the other post about actually calling Senator Boxer/Feinstein's office and talking to some one personally, as their offices get hundreds of letters a day and all of their letters are pre-made. You may want to write someone that is on the Senate/House Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, since the TSA is a part of the Department of Homeland Security.

^^

:-::-::-::-::-: