Even the most bitterly divided Congress should be able to come together on this one: The Treating Small Airports with Fairness Act (TSA Fairness Act) would assure that lack of airport security did not stand in the way of attracting commercial air service to Klamath Falls and other small communities.

Klamath Falls lost commercial air service in June 2014. That means would-be air passengers must drive to Redmond (3 hours away) or Medford (1½ hours) if they hope to fly to Portland, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Seattle or Denver.

Now the Crater Lake-Klamath Regional Airport has an airline, PenAir of Alaska, that wants to stop in Klamath Falls. There’s only one problem. The federal Transportation Security Administration does not want to spend the money to restore security service to the airport, and Pen won’t fly there without it.

The TSA offers an alternative of sorts. Let passengers board in Klamath Falls, then screen them in Portland, it suggests.

That’s ridiculous. It would mean that passenger safety just doesn’t matter as much if you fly out of Klamath Falls.

The economy in Klamath Falls has suffered terribly in recent years, in part because of the ongoing battle over water in the region. Commercial air service can be a vital tool in attracting new businesses and tourists bound for Crater Lake. And Kingsley Field, one of only two Oregon Air National Guard bases, also needs access to commercial air service.

The TSA Fairness Acts — actually two identical measures, one in the U.S. House and one in the Senate — were introduced last month by U.S. Reps. Greg Walden, R-Hood River, Peter DeFazio, D-Springfield, and U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Portland. They’re identical, and each has bipartisan support both within and outside Oregon. They would require TSA to return to Klamath Falls and other small communities in similar circumstances, providing passengers and airlines the same security they’d get anywhere else. They should be approved.