Action Alert: Airport Input Needed to Bolster AAAE Request to Prevent TSA from Eliminating Funding for Key Security Programs
April 3, 2023
As Congress gears up for the Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) appropriations process, we need your help as we urge lawmakers to retain funding for critical airport priorities in the annual Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spending bill. Last month, the Biden Administration as part of its annual budget submission proposed to eliminate funding for TSA staffing at airport exit lanes, TSA's law enforcement officer reimbursement grants, and state and local-led canine teams. If these three proposals are adopted, it would amount to a $191 million-a-year cost shift to airport operators and law enforcement agencies that currently police our nation's airports.
On March 31, AAAE President and CEO Todd Hauptli sent letters to House and Senate Appropriations Committee leaders asking for their continued support for these critical programs in the FY24 DHS spending bill. In addition, he requested funding for both TSA and CBP staffing to handle increased domestic and international passenger volumes, and for more security technology to assist with the screening of these travelers. You can view AAAE's letter here.
Request: We need your help to convince lawmakers to fund our priorities in the upcoming appropriations process. While the deadline to ask your House members to support funding these items has passed, the Senate DHS Appropriations Subcommittee's deadline for programmatic requests closes on April 11. Please reach out to your two senators and ask them to submit programmatic requests in support of these airport priorities in the FY24 DHS appropriations bills. Contact information for your Senators is available via this link.
Key priorities are:
• Require TSA to Continue Staffing Exit Lanes: Despite federal law requiring TSA to permanently monitor exit points from sterile areas where the agency was performing those duties on December 1, 2013, the administration's FY24 budget request once again tries to shift these responsibilities to airports. Congress has consistently provided funding for TSA to staff these lanes each year, prohibiting the agency from abrogating its responsibility. Airports urge Congress to continue to require TSA to staff exit lanes as required by current law and reject any proposal to shift that cost to airports.
• Fully Fund TSA LEO Reimbursement Program: Airports urge Congress to fully fund TSA's law enforcement officer (LEO) reimbursement program. These grants partially reimburse LEOs who respond to possible threats, like firearms or fentanyl, during the checkpoint screening process because TSA screeners do not have the authority to detain or make arrests. The FY24 budget proposes to eliminate these annual reimbursements while still requiring airports to provide TSA with law enforcement resources at checkpoints - a proposal that could weaken overall security by forcing airports to divert resources from other security purposes like patrolling public areas.
• Fully Fund State and Local-Led Airport Canine Teams: Airports urge Congress to continue to fund state and local LEO-operated canine teams. TSA relies on these canine teams to detect explosives or explosive material at airports as part of its multi-layered security operations nationwide. The FY24 budget request proposes to end reimbursements for 675 teams. Eliminating funding for these state and local law enforcement-led canine teams could reduce a visible and highly effective deterrence measure at our nation's airports.
• Properly Staff TSA Security Checkpoints and CBP Air Ports-of-Entry: We urge Congress to provide TSA and CBP with the resources they need for more officers to handle the significant growth in passenger volumes and avoid lengthy wait times, and for new technologies to screen travelers and their baggage effectively and efficiently.
Thank you for your assistance in amplifying our message about the need to continue funding for these key security items on Capitol Hill.
