Decision to cut airport screeners to be reviewed PORTLAND, Maine (AP) =97 Proposed security budget cuts that could have led= to=20 long lines this summer at the Portland International Jetport have been=20 delayed, Maine's U.S. senators said Monday. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine,=20 said the Transportation Security Administration, which oversees airport=20 security nationwide, has agreed to review its earlier decision to eliminate= =20 about 30 percent of the airport's passenger and baggage screeners. Airport= =20 officials said cuts of that magnitude could have led to long waits for=20 passengers, possibly up to 45 minutes, and eliminated one of the three=20 security-screening lanes just when the airport enters its busiest time of=20 the year. Collins, who chairs the committee that oversees the Homeland=20 Security Department and TSA, wrote a letter to Under Secretary for Border=20 and Transportation Security Asa Hutchinson, questioning the level of=20 proposed cuts for Portland. She argued that the proposed cuts were based on= =20 outdated information. On Monday, she said Hutchinson agreed to review the=20 decision. "TSA's original plan would have caused lengthy passenger delays,"= =20 Collins said. "I am optimistic that once TSA looks at the jetport's needs,= =20 it will understand the need to keep three screening lanes up and running."= =20 Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, said the TSA acknowledged using incomplete=20 data to determine staffing cuts in Portland, and will update its formula to= =20 recalculate the jetport's layoffs. The proposed cuts were part of a plan to= =20 reduce the nation's 56,000 passengers screeners by 6,000 workers. The=20 Portland airport was to lose 30 of its 101 screeners, while Manchester,=20 N.H. is scheduled to lose 84 of its 200 screeners. Boston's Logan airport,= =20 which has 1,047 screeners, would lose only 50. At the same time, 151=20 airports around the country, including Bangor International, would gain=20 screeners. Bangor would go from 65 to 71 screeners, the same number as=20 Portland even though it has one-third the number of flights. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Mas Site: www.tntisland.com/tntrecords/mas2003/ Site of the Week: http://www.caribbeanfloral.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************