Oversight Hearing – The Transportation Security Administration
House Subcommittee on Department of Homeland Security
2025-05-20
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Source: Congress.gov
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Acting Administrator McNeil, I sincerely thank you for being here, even though you've been here longer than me. I'm going to skip all that. I'll now turn to my colleague, Ms. Underwood, for her opening remarks. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ms. McNeil, welcome to our subcommittee, and congratulations on your appointment. It was good to meet with you last week. As we all know, TSA has no freedom to fail. Whether it's at the train station or at the airport, our transportation security officers must get it right, screening well over 2 million people per day, 24-7, 365 days a year.
This is a high stakes, high pressure job where transportation security officers, or TSOs, welcome travelers from all walks of life while screening millions of passengers and bags each day. TSOs need less stress at work, not more, so that they can focus on keeping our skies secure. But under this administration, DHS has abandoned its collective bargaining agreement with nearly 50,000 TSOs, including about 2,500 in Illinois. Stripping away those protections makes it harder for officers to do their jobs effectively. This decision was made with no data on savings or benefits to show the taxpayer other than vague comments from DHS about how the union representatives for TSOs will have to go back to work. The truth is there is significant uncertainty about whether the traveling public will benefit from this action in a meaningful way. So far, the best that TSA can do is show us $35,000 in savings. Beginning in 2024 and prior to the cancellation of collective bargaining, TSA had reduced attrition rates by nearly half. And in an agency that has historically struggled with staffing, actions like this only threaten morale and make it harder for TSOs to stay focused on their core mission. That kind of consistency in the workforce is what helps to improve TSA's ability to find contraband and keep dangerous people off planes. Deputy Administrator McNeil, while I understand that this action was taken before your most recent tenure, this subcommittee needs a more substantive justification than TSA has provided so far. As far as today's hearing is concerned, we are here to get more information on the skinny budget, which proposes a cut of $247 million, or about 3% of TSA's overall budget. Last week, Secretary Noem said in her hearing that these cuts were meant to demonstrate reduced TSA screening presence for activities such as exit lane monitoring. However, just a couple months ago, the Trump administration agreed to an anomaly in the full year funding bill to increase TSA funding by $450 million provided by Congress.
And while we have no insight into the reasoning behind these cuts, when the only justification provided in the skinny budget is angry rhetoric about the prior administration. I'm also concerned that this budget fails to meet TSA's security needs. For example, we know that TSA's screening equipment requires upgrades, but it appears that funding is being deprioritized in this administration to fund political priorities. If screening operations are under-resourced, it puts our ability to detect dangerous weapons, drugs, and trafficking activity at serious risk. And the consequences could be catastrophic. Ms. McNeil, while I understand this proposal was written by your predecessors, you are TSA's leader. And during today's hearing, we are looking for more accurate and relevant information than we've seen thus far from the department under this administration so that we can do the incredibly important work of resourcing TSA to keep Americans safe. thank you and i yield back madam acting administrator without objection your full written testimony will be entered into the record and with that in mind we would ask you to summarize to the extent possible your opening statement the floor is yours for five minutes
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Unknown
Good afternoon, Chairman Amadei, Ranking Member Underwood, and distinguished members of this subcommittee. Thank you for the invitation to testify before you today on behalf of the Transportation Security Administration. I'm honored to be here and grateful for the longstanding and productive partnership TSA shares with this distinguished subcommittee. I would like to start by thanking TSA's employees for their unrelenting efforts day in and day out to secure the nation's transportation systems. TSA is an agile security agency embodied by a dedicated and professional workforce that works tirelessly to outmatch an increasingly sophisticated and dynamic threat. Today, TSA stands at an important strategic crossroads. The upcoming 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics present an enormous opportunity for the nation to boldly transform and modernize travel. The president, Secretary Noem, and this administration are committed to delivering a golden age of US travel, one that Americans will be proud of and deserve. The importance of a seamless and secure US transportation system cannot be overstated economically, logistically, and strategically. US travel is a $2.9 trillion industry employing more than 15 million workers nationwide, metrics expected to continue growing larger. While the previous administration prioritized diversity, equity, and inclusion in a collective bargaining agreement that undermined our vital mission, under Secretary Noem's leadership, we are recommitting TSA to its core mission, leaning into innovation, organizational accountability, and a renewed focus on security and the passenger experience. TSA's fortified aviation security will be coupled with an improved, streamlined, and consistent experience at airports nationwide. I also want to acknowledge our traveling families and the efforts currently underway at TSA to lighten the burden of air travel for them. In the near future, we will begin implementing plans to ease some of the stress families face moving in and out of airports.
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Unknown
As American families plan trips in the coming years, they can rest assured that at TSA we will implement processes that put them first, strengthening and empowering family values through commercial aviation. I am excited to share more about these initiatives with this subcommittee and the American people in the coming weeks. With TSA screening over 3 million passengers on peak days, commercial aviation remains a top target for nefarious actors. The future of aviation security will be a balance of human talent and leveraging emerging technology. With the continued support of Congress, TSA is deploying state-of-the-art screening technology to airports nationwide.
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