One of the Senate’s foremost camera hounds is pushing for more canines to be deployed to cut down on airport security lines ahead of the peak summer travel season.  

New York’s Charles E. Schumer, the No. 3 Senate Democrat, said at a Sunday news conference that screening delays at the three major airports in the New York City area can have a cascading effect across the country, and he wants the Transportation Security Administration to help ease that.  

“As New York City airport wait times bog down, so waits the nation. New York City is a national hub and if we can reduce the wait times here, we can make the entire country move a lot faster,” he said. “A canine screening surge in New York City could really take a bite out of time.”  

Schumer said that dogs that are part of passenger screening teams can be used to sniff out potential explosives ahead of the point where passengers reach the security scanning equipment, meaning that even those without approval for expedited processes could pass through without needing to remove belts and shoes.  

[Related: Congress Turns to Airport Security After Brussels Attack]

“As the dog days of summer roll on in, airport security lines need to roll along, too,” said Schumer, who estimates wait drives could just about drop in half.  

Contact Lesniewski at NielsLesniewski@cqrollcall.com and follow him on Twitter @nielslesniewski.

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