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Editorial: Senators and screeners

Monday, July 26, 2004 | 8:45 a.m.

Thanks to a little old-fashioned political hardball by Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., McCarran International Airport will get enough security screeners to handle its 36 million passengers a year.

Reid and Ensign had effectively blocked the Bush administration's nomination of former Navy Rear Adm. David Stone as head of the Transportation Security Administration. They only relented after receiving Stone's promise to provide McCarran with an additional 231 screeners, which will bring the total to 1,054. Without the senators' intervention, the airport would have had to make do with just 823 screeners, meaning passengers would have been facing major delays.

McCarran officials say the airport will now be able to man all of its security lanes, including new ones opening next month, and reduce its overtime expenses. Such political tactics are sometimes necessary. Other similarly sized airports were receiving sufficient screeners, but for some reason McCarran was being shortchanged. We're a small state, but it's good to know that our senators aren't about to let us get bullied, particularly on an issue so vital to our economy.

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