Southers Nomination Reported Out of Senate Committee

Thursday November 5, 2009

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee today reported out the nomination of Erroll Southers to be the new head of the Transportation Security Administration. The nomination was favorably reported out by the committee on the afternoon of November 19, 2009 with a unanimous voice vote.

Southers won the endorsement of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE, AFL-CIO) which represents TSA security officers nationwide. In a statement this past Tuesday, the union urged the committee to approve Southers’ nomination, saying “TSA is in desperate need of a strong, knowledgeable leader to fulfill its incredibly important mission of ensuring safety for the flying public. The combination of Mr. Southers' education, experience and commitment to security and justice make him ideally suited to lead TSA."

Southers’ nomination had earlier won approval from the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.