31.   Up to five airports will apply by this time next year for a government-supervised pilot program using privately-contracted airport screeners.

32.   Working as an airport screener has been considered a respectable entry-level position or second job for immigrants, many of whom hear about openings from family and friends.

33.   Airport screeners sue over new federal rules, saying U.S.

34.   But House Democrats, and a bipartisan group in the Senate Commerce Committee, have pushed for the federalization of airport screeners.

35.   Expecting a close vote, the House debated whether aviation security would best be served by making every airport screener a federal employee.

36.   Inspector General Kenneth Mead reported in January that the FAA needed to improve training for airport security screeners and increase the use of bomb-detection machines.

37.   It can reduce the time spent by an airport screener by narrowing the search to one area of the body.

38.   Many companies providing airport screeners in the United States are subsidiaries of European firms operating globally, such as Securicor ADI of Britain and Amsterdam-based ICTS.

39.   President George W. Bush has resisted creating a new federal bureaucracy, and instead proposed the government supervise and train airport screeners, but not employ them.

40.   The House too was near agreement on an aviation security bill, but unlike the Senate was at an impasse over the issue of airport screeners.