TSA

Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) asked the Transportation Safety Administration over the weekend to reverse its new policy of allowing knives that are six centimeters or less in length onto passenger planes.

In a letter to TSA Administrator John Pistole, Markey warned that TSA's new policy would put passengers at risk just as they were during the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will work this week to finalize its list of air traffic control towers that will be closed because of the sequestration budget cuts.

The FAA has revealed a list of 173 towers to be closed next month to meet its obligation to reduce its 2013 spending by about 9 percent.

But lawmakers have already began pushing back on closing flight towers in their districts.

"We write to express our deep concern about the slated closure of the air traffic control tower at Tweed-New Haven along with 5 additional general aviation control towers throughout the State of Connecticut," Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, all Democrats, wrote in a letter to FAA Administrator Michael Huerta last week.

GOP lawmakers have seized on the contract as evidence that the Obama administration oversold the damage from the cuts.

A union for flight attendants is questioning the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for its decision to allow small knives on airplanes for the first time since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

TSA announced on Tuesday that it is relaxing its prohibitions on airline passengers carrying knives shorter than 2.36 inches and sporting equipment like golf clubs and toy baseball bats in their carry-on luggage.

Previously, the items had to be stored in passengers’ checked bags.

The Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), which represents American Airlines employees, said it was concerned the changes to TSA’s guidelines would make airplanes less safe for their members to work on. 

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced Tuesday that it is relaxing its prohibitions on airline passengers carrying small knives and sporting equipment like golf clubs and toy baseball bats on to airplanes.

The agency said starting April 25, it will allow knives shorter than 2.36 inches long and one-half inch wide and bats shorter than 24 inches and weighing less than 24 ounces to be included in carry-on luggage.

The changes will mark the first time knives will be allowed on airplanes since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. They were announced by TSA Administrator John Pistole in a speech in New York on Tuesday.

TSA said in a statement after the speech that the changes were part of its shift to a more risk-based airport security system. 

Wait times at Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints at major U.S. airports have already nearly doubled since sequestration was implemented, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on Monday.

Napolitano said Monday that the $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts that were officially enacted last Friday have already resulted in airport security lines that are "150 to 200 percent" longer than they normally are.

The unions for Transportation Security Administration (TSA) airport security screeners and Amtrak concession workers have joined the AFL-CIO's Transportation Trades Department, the labor groups said Thursday.

The TTD, which bills itself as the largest coalition of transportation unions, said the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and UNITE HERE unions would become its 32nd and 33rd members.

The AFGE, which represents TSA workers, is joining the TTD for the first time. UNITE HERE, the Amtrak concession workers union, is rejoining the coalition.  

Administration officials have raised the possibility of the sequester increasing airport wait times to as long as four hours.

GOP Rep. Bill Shuster said he did not buy the administration's claims about automatic budget cuts causing airport delays.

Lines at the airport will get much longer because of sequestration, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Monday.