The White House is requesting $52 million to begin the process of privatizing the TSA next year.
The proposal, put forward on April 3 as part of President Trump's 2027 fiscal year budget request, would require small airports to enroll in the Screening Partnership Program (SPP), under which TSA hires private contractors to run airport security screening.
"The airports that already use this program have demonstrated savings compared to federal screening operations," the budget request reads. "The move would yield cost savings compared to federal screening and begin reform of a troubled federal agency."
The SPP isn't new. It has been in place as an option for airports since 2004, allowing them to choose to have TSA select a private contractor to conduct airport screening rather than federal TSA workers. However, there has been minimal uptake. So far, just 20 airports have chosen to utilize private companies at TSA checkpoints. The largest of those is San Francisco Airport, followed by Kansas City. Most participants are small airports.
Under the program, TSA selects contractors from a list of prequalified vendors required to work under TSA guidelines. TSA oversees the contactor.
The program has received more attention amid the ongoing Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown. TSA officers weren't paid for a portion of February and nearly all of March and are now being paid under presidential order, without authorization from Congress. While they were unpaid, TSA officers increasingly called out of work, causing long security lines at a handful of major airports, with especially long lines plaguing Houston Bush Intercontinental and Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson.
Airports in the SPP were inoculated from the dysfunction since their privately employed screeners received paychecks throughout the shutdown.
Airport trade groups Airports Council International-North America and the American Association of Airport Executives didn't immediately respond to a Travel Weekly request for comment on the White House privatization proposal.
The
American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), a labor union representing TSA
workers, said that it is not surprised by the proposal since it was outlined in
Project 2025, a policy blueprint published in 2023 by the conservative
Heritage Foundation, significant portions of which have been implemented or
initiated by the Trump administration.
"AFGE will fight back against any attempt to privatize the
jobs of our members who keep the flying public safe," the union said. On its website, the union
argues against privatization, saying that contractors' motivation for profit
would lead to lower pay, higher employee turnover and worse security.
Air traffic control funding
On another matter of great concern to air travel, the budget request falls well short of the approximately $20 billion that Department of Transportation secretary Sean Duffy and aviation stakeholders have said is needed to complete an overhaul of the U.S. air traffic control system. Duffy has set the end of Trump administration as desired timeline to complete the overhaul.
Last summer's massive budget bill included $12.5 billion for the project.
The White House request for the 2027 fiscal year is $4 billion for air traffic control facilities and equipment. The funds would allow the FAA to continue building the new system, according to the request.
Prior to last year's $12.5 billion authorization, funding for air traffic control had been essentially flat at $3 billion for 15 years, according to informational material put out by the DOT under Duffy. But the department, as noted in an analysis by Politico, had criticized that figure as "stagnant."
"The One Big Beautiful Bill gave us a strong $12.5 billion down payment to start this modernization effort," FAA administrator Bryan Bedford said in a December DOT press release. "But to finish the job -- and deliver the safer, more efficient system travelers deserve -- we're going to need another $20 billion."
Politico said the much smaller 2027 request is likely a reaction to opposition in Congress.
"The administration appears well aware that getting this money through the annual appropriations process is a herculean task," reads the publication's Weekly Transportation newsletter.
Modern Skies Coalition -- a group of 50-plus stakeholders
that formed for the purpose of supporting an overhaul of the air traffic control system -- declined to comment
on the budget request.