Ranking Member Underwood Remarks at the Transportation Security Administration Oversight Hearing

WASHINGTON — Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (D-IL-14), Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Subcommittee, delivered the following remarks at the subcommittee's oversight hearing on the Transportation Security Administration (TSA):

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ms. McNeill, 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 the airport, our transportation security officers must get it right, screening well over two 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 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-thousand dollars 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 McNeill, while I understand that this action was taken before your most recent tenure, this Subcommittee needs a more substantive justification than TSA has provided thus 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 three percent 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 of 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. McNeill, 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 have 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. 

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