House committee discusses privatizing TSA screening at 250 airports

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Lawmakers on the House Committee on Homeland Security discussed how to modernize the Transportation Security Administration on Wednesday, weighing new technology and funding against the political fight over whether airport screening should move to private contractors at about 250 smaller airports. The hearing focused on the future of TSA nearly 25 years after it was created following the Sept. 11 attacks, with morale and pay for TSA officers during funding lapses looming over the policy talk.

Republican Rep. Andrew Garbarino of New York, the committee chairman, opened the hearing by describing how shutdown conditions have affected TSA officers. He said that “between the 2025 and 2026 shutdowns,” transportation security officers endured a total of 119 days impacted by shutdown conditions, adding that meant TSA officers spent roughly 40% of the fiscal year “reporting to work without a paycheck.”

Garbarino’s remarks came amid comments from multiple committee members that Congress has not passed pending bills that would guarantee TSA workers continued pay during shutdowns. Rep. Lou Correa, a California Democrat, argued that lawmakers should not benefit from government work if TSA personnel are not paid during shutdowns.

The privatization debate and budget figures also dominated questioning. Correa took aim at President Donald Trump’s proposed budget, saying it would spend $477.3 million to have private companies take over airport screening at about 250 smaller airports while cutting more than 4,500 TSA positions to save $529.3 million in compensation and benefits. Correa said the thrust of the proposal reflected “an antigovernment privatization ideology,” and he argued that “technology alone can’t replace the experienced people who make the security checkpoints work as they have for the past 25 years.”

The hearing also addressed the TSA’s evolving contracting approach. Correa said the TSA this week authorized contractors in an airport staffing program to acquire and maintain screening equipment, which he said had previously been strictly a government function. Lawmakers discussed how that shift would interact with the existing Screening Partnership Program, under which about 20 U.S. airports already staff checkpoints and can choose whether to opt in.

In testimony, Christopher Sununu, president and CEO of the airline trade group Airlines for America, argued that airports should retain discretion over whether to use private screeners. He said “Ensuring SPP remains an option for airports and does not become a mandatory program is paramount to the U.S. aviation industry.” Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees and the union that represents TSA workers, strongly opposed the move, saying, “I’m totally against the privatization of any airport,” adding, “You don’t contract out the CIA, do you?”

After several more Democrats warned that shifting airport security to businesses would leave U.S. airspace more vulnerable, Garbarino interjected to say that some traditionally conservative cities already use private screeners. He cited San Francisco, Seattle and Atlanta as examples, saying, “so yeah, maybe it’s not a Republican thing.”

Garbarino and Rep. Tim Kennedy, a New York Democrat, also promoted legislation introduced earlier this month by them and three other committee members. The bill would double, from $250 million to $500 million, the amount the TSA administrator is required to set aside to reimburse airports for capital costs tied to security, and it would establish an annual TSA fund of $250 million for airport screening technology.

Lawmakers said the money for those changes would come from the 9/11 Passenger Security Fee, which they said has existed since 2002. Garbarino said the fee had been expected to directly fund aviation security but that Congress decided in 2013 that a certain portion had to be used to reduce the federal deficit, and he said since then “an estimated $15 billion” has gone to the Treasury for that purpose.

Garbarino argued that Congress should restore the fee to its original intent, saying nearly half the fee’s revenue “goes to something else,” and he said the legislation would fund “the next generation of screening technology that protects our people in the skies.” The hearing also took place as Trump’s fiscal 2027 budget proposal would end the practice of diverting passenger fees, with the TSA funded partly with $1.68 billion that was expected to go to deficit-reduction, according to the committee discussion.

At the hearing, officials and industry representatives included Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport CEO Chris McLaughlin, along with Sununu and Kelley. The testimony and debate underscored both the operational side of screening—who runs checkpoints and what equipment is used—and the political side—how funding and pay protections should work when government operations are interrupted.