The bill includes an amendment offered by the chair of the House federal workforce subcommittee, Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., that would permit TSA employees to elect to wear protective equipment such as masks in the event of a public health emergency – including the current swine flu outbreak.
The president of National Treasury Employees Union called the amendment "a key step in righting an ongoing wrong," and called for extending the authority to wear masks to all DHS employees.
According to NTEU, Lynch was irritated by recent testimony by DHS management on the mask issue, and by affidavits from CBP employees stating they were told to remove their masks.
Kelley alleges there’s an unwritten prohibition on wearing masks so as to not alarm travelers and is seeking specifics from DHS undersecretary Elaine Duke on the DHS position on masks.