Pay TSA agents, stop the diversion!

Congress already has the money to pay TSA agents they’re just refusing to use it. Every time you fly, your ticket includes a fee called the September 11 Security Fee also known as the Aviation Passenger Security Fee. It’s $5.60 for a one-way trip and up to $11.20 for a round-trip, collected by the airline when you buy your ticket. It was created specifically to fund the TSA after the 9/11 attacks. And it applies even to free reward travel booked with points or miles so if you’re standing in that security line, you paid it. Here’s what most people don’t know Congress hasn’t been sending all that money to the TSA. Starting with the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013, Congress began redirecting about $1.6 billion per year in security fee revenue away from aviation security and into general deficit reduction. So for over a decade, you’ve been paying a fee labeled “security” that wasn’t fully going to security. That diversion is set to expire in 2027, but it’s still happening right now. The TSA is in crisis. Staffing shortages driven by federal workforce cuts and a government shutdown have created hours-long lines at checkpoints across the country. Agents have been working without paychecks for roughly a month, and the agency has already lost hundreds of officers. Morale is tanking, recruiting is suffering, and the people who are left are burning out. Every person standing in that security line already paid for TSA agents to be there. The money exists it’s collected on every single ticket. Congress has just been quietly diverting it for years to plug other budget holes. The agents aren’t getting paid not because there’s no money, but because of a deliberate political choice about where that money goes. Stop the diversion Trump! Pay the agents.