Senate passes measure prohibiting preferential airport screening for lawmakers

The Senate approved by unanimous consent Thursday a proposal to end the special treatment members of Congress get at airports that allows them to speed through or skip the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) screening checkpoints.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) proposed the legislation on the Senate floor Thursday night to force Democratic colleagues to have to wait in the same long security lines as the rest of the flying public during the Department of Homeland Security shutdown, which has now stretched for 35 days.

Security screening lines have been especially long at Houston’s Hobby Airport, where people have had to wait three to four hours to get through TSA lines.

Wait times have increased dramatically at airports around the country in large part because more TSA agents are missing work during the shutdown as they’re not getting paid.

“Staffing constraints have not only led to longer wait times around the country but also significant delays, disruptions and missed flights,” Cornyn said on the floor, blaming Democrats for the Homeland Security shutdown.

“The only reason I can fathom, other than being completely out of touch, that our Democrat colleagues would do this is not all members of Congress are being forced to experience the same mess of their own making,” Cornyn said.

“As many Americans probably don’t know but most of us in Washington do know, airports around the country allow members of Congress to bypass the usual TSA screening process at airports nationwide. In other words, they get to skip the line. This should end today,” he said.

Cornyn’s proposal would prohibit TSA from using any funding to provide or facilitate the “expedited” passage through security screenings.

No senator objected when he asked that it be passed by unanimous consent.

If enacted, the legislation to end preferential treatment for lawmakers at airports would be in effect even once the Department of Homeland Security reopens.

The House would need to pass the bill and President Trump would have to sign it for it to become law.  

Democrats have repeatedly blocked legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security to demand reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Democrats, instead, have proposed several times to fund just TSA or TSA and other critical agencies such as the Coast Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) but not ICE and Border Patrol. Republicans, however, have blocked these efforts, declaring they won’t split off funding for immigration enforcement agencies.

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