Congressman Gallego Leads 70 Democrats in Calling for Greater Resources to Address TSA Airport Delays
Washington, DC – Today, Congressman Ruben Gallego, along with Rep. Tammy Duckworth, Rep. Patrick Murphy and Rep. John Lewis, sent a letter signed by 70 House Democrats urging the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee to provide additional resources and authorities to address the frustrating wait times at TSA security checkpoints that have frustrated passengers at airports across the nation. Congressman Gallego led the effort in response to unacceptably long lines at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and a recent baggage screening stoppage that resulted in more than 3,000 bags missing their flights.
The letter echoes the calls of key stakeholders—including major airports, industry groups and organized labor—for increased TSA staffing levels to cope with the growing number of commercial air travelers in the United States. It also urges the Subcommittee to exclude from the legislation any statutory cap on the size of the TSA workforce. In recent years, appropriations bills funding the Department of Homeland Security have arbitrarily limited the number of screeners that TSA may employ—a provision that appears to lack any credible rationale and, in the future, could constrain TSA’s ability to reduce wait times at security checkpoints.
“Congress has a critical role to play in ensuring that the long lines and lost bags at Sky Harbor and other major airports don’t continue,” said Congressman Gallego. “With more Americans traveling today than ever before, we have a responsibility to ensure that TSA has a workforce that can cope with these rising passenger volumes. Given the importance of the travel industry to our city and our state, I call on the House Republican leadership to bring forward a homeland security spending bill that will fully address the TSA delays that have frustrated so many Arizonans in recent months.”
The text of the letter is below:
June 8, 2016
Dear Chairman Carter and Ranking Member Roybal-Allard:
We write on behalf of American travelers who are frustrated and angry because of excessive delays at security screening checkpoints in airports throughout the country. We are concerned at the recent high-profile instances of multiple hour wait times at major airports. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) must have the authority and resources to effectively protect the nation’s transportation systems to ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce.
While we support DHS’ immediate corrective actions to decrease wait times, these steps are only temporary solutions. In recent years, the size of the TSA workforce has declined by approximately 12 percent, while the number of domestic air travelers has increased by a similar percentage. A range of key stakeholders—including major airports, industry groups and organized labor—have called for increased TSA staffing levels.
Accordingly, as the Subcommittee develops the Fiscal Year 2017 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Appropriations Act, we strongly urge you to ensure that TSA can effectively and efficiently implement a risk-based aviation security screening process that optimizes deployment of agency resources to match seasonal fluctuations in travel volume. Specifically, we believe the FY 17 DHS appropriations bill should:
- Eliminate arbitrary restrictions that cap the size of TSA’s Transportation Security Officer (TSO) workforce without regard to the continually evolving and growing range of terrorist threats targeting the traveling public or the level of traveler demand;
- Ensure TSA possesses necessary flexibility to deploy TSO personnel in an agile and responsive manner that matches a continually changing threat environment and fluctuating traveler volumes based on various factors;
- Require TSA to analyze and enhance its TSO staffing allocation model to be more flexible and responsive to variations in travel volume;
- Provide TSA with necessary resources to recruit, retain and continually train a talented TSO workforce that is of sufficient quantity and quality to implement the improved staffing allocation model; and
- Ensure TSA is provided robust funding to deploy advanced personnel and proven detection technology, particularly K-9 teams, in an agile manner to airports experiencing elevated travel volumes and higher security threat assessments.
Recognizing that the DHS appropriations bill must address a range of pressing homeland security priorities, we strongly encourage the Subcommittee provide funding for TSA operations at a level commensurate with the agency’s growing workload in preventing terrorist plots targeting our aviation system. In addition, we strongly believe aviation security must never be compromised by irrational or unjustified congressional caps on the number of transportation security officers the agency may employ to best protect American travelers.
Thank you for your attention to these requests. TSA’s counterterror mission is, and must always remain, the agency’s highest priority. Fortunately, the goals of enhanced security and more efficient processing are not mutually exclusive objectives. We look forward to working with you to support the important work that tens of thousands of Transportation Security Officers do every day to keep the American people safe.
Sincerely,
70 Members of Congress