Overview
- The 2027 budget proposal, released Friday, would begin shifting airport screening by requiring small airports to join the Screening Partnership Program and it cuts TSA funding by $52 million.
- In the program, private companies run checkpoints under TSA rules and supervision, and about 20 airports including San Francisco and Kansas City already use it.
- The push follows weeks of unpaid TSA officers and hours-long lines during a DHS funding lapse, while contractors at SPP airports said operations stayed normal because employees kept getting paid.
- The plan outlines priorities rather than law, so any expansion would need congressional action or administrative steps, and the AFGE union representing TSA officers says it will fight the change.
- Former TSA Administrator John S. Pistole linked the proposal to Project 2025 and predicted several more airports could seek SPP contracts over the next 6 to 12 months.