Legislation has been introduced to do away with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), replacing the agency’s work with private screening companies.
The Abolish TSA Act (S. 1180) was introduced by Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) and is co-sponsored by Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL).
If the bill were to be passed into law as written, the TSA would be abolished three years after the date of enactment to allow for time for privatization and the repeal or transfer of additional authorities.
The legislation also directs that a reorganization plan be set up within 90 days of the bill becoming law. The plan would do the following:
- Establish the Office of Aviation Security Oversight within the Federal Aviation Administration, headed by a Director
- Requires the rapid transfer of aviation security activities and equipment to qualified private screening companies
- Transfer the functions, personnel, assets, and liabilities related to surface transportation (mass transit, freight rail, pipelines, etc.) to the Department of Transportation
- Proportional reductions of TSA operations and personnel to facilitate transfer of duties
The reorganization plan is forbidden from including any agency requirement or regulation compelling private contractors conducting airport security screening services to conduct warrantless searches and seizures and from extending the three year deadline for eliminating the agency.
Congress will consider, amend, vote up or down on the reorganization plan through expedited and privileged procedure. Compliance will be monitored by the GAO and regular reports to Congress.
Airport security used to be handled by private security companies prior to the TSA. In the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the TSA was established by the Aviation and Transportation Security Act which was signed into law on November 19, 2001.
In addition to airport security, the TSA also oversees security operations for other land based transportation: mass transit, freight rail, highway motor carrier and pipeline.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently announced that it was ending collective bargaining for TSA employees. It is a change that is intended to streamline agency operations and is estimated to impact about 50,000 employees.
Legislation was quickly introduced shortly thereafter to guarantee collective bargaining rights for TSA employees as a countermeasure to the DHS announcement. The Rights for the TSA Workforce Act was introduced in the House (H.R. 2086) by Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and in the Senate (S. 997) by Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI).
Critics of the TSA such as Lee and Tuberville point to how the agency has historically failed in the past to detect weapons or other threats in undercover tests. In 2017 for instance, an undercover operation revealed that the TSA operations failed close to 80% of the time when screeners failed to detect weapons and bombs at security checkpoints.
In 2015, the agency’s acting director was reassigned after an investigation revealed that the TSA failed to detect security breach tests at airports 95% of the time when undercover investigators were able to smuggle weapons, fake explosives and other contraband through numerous checkpoints.
Supporters of the agency, however, are usually quick to point to terrorist threats and the 9/11 terror attacks which occurred prior to government control of airport security as evidence of why the agency is necessary. For instance, AFGE National President Everett Kelley said when the Rights for the TSA Workforce Act was reintroduced last month:
DHS’s reckless decision to rescind TSA workers’ collective bargaining agreement is blatant union-busting. If allowed to stand, it will silence 47,000 frontline officers who protect millions daily, clearing a path for Project 2025’s dangerous privatization scheme, prioritizing profits over national security and reviving the failed, profit-driven model from before the terrorist attacks of September 11. The Rights for the TSA Workforce Act, introduced by Representative Bennie Thompson and Senator Brian Schatz, is essential to restoring dignity, protecting workers’ rights, and ensuring aviation security isn’t outsourced to the lowest bidder.
In a statement about the bill, Tuberville said:
The TSA has become an inefficient, bureaucratic mess that infringes on Americans’ freedoms and wastes taxpayer money. It’s a bloated agency that offers minimal security benefits while causing unnecessary delays and frustration for travelers. We need to focus on smarter, more effective methods to protect our country without sacrificing the liberties that make America great. The TSA should be eliminated and replaced with more targeted, streamlined, and accountable solutions.
