Texas Rep. Ron Paul added the Transportation Security Administration to the long list of federal agencies he would like to abolish yesterday.
Speaking in his weekly address, “Texas Straight Talk,” the congressman and Republican presidential candidate decried the recent TSA actions that have made headlines across the country, such as when TSA agents forced a 95-year-old woman to remove her adult diaper.
“The press reports are horrifying,” Paul said. “95-year-old women humiliated, children molested, disabled people abused. Men and women subjected to unwarranted groping and touching of their most private areas, and involuntary radiation exposure.”
“If the perpetrators were a gang of criminals, their headquarters would be raided by SWAT teams and armed federal agents,” Paul continued. “Unfortunately in this case, the perpetrators are armed federal agents. […] The unfortunate fact that we put up with this doesn’t speak well to our willingness to stand up to an abusive government.”
Paul also said he was introducing a bill, the “American Traveler Dignity Act,” which would ban TSA’s “enhanced pat-downs.”
Paul has opposed federalization of airline security since the TSA’s creation shortly after the 9/11 attacks, preferring instead privatized security.