Sponsor
John Cornyn
Senator · R-TX
Senator · R-TX
The bill clarifies and preserves public access to risk‑based expedited screening and strengthens agency guidance and accountability while eliminating automatic congressional screening privileges—trading improved consistency and equal treatment for increased privacy/fairness concerns, potential transparency and implementation risks, and modest impacts on urgent congressional travel.
All air travelers keep access to TSA's risk‑based expedited screening and the bill clarifies which Trusted Traveler identifiers qualify, reducing ambiguity about who gets expedited screening.
Federal and transportation agencies receive clearer statutory/regulatory references and must update policies, which should improve consistency, reduce legal risk, and simplify enforcement across screening locations.
Members of Congress will no longer automatically receive special faster screening, reinforcing equal treatment of passengers and reducing perceptions of favoritism at airports.
Broadening the set of accepted Trusted Traveler identifiers and allowing program enrollment for Members of Congress could raise privacy concerns and public perceptions of preferential access or conflicts if privacy protections and enrollment rules are not strictly enforced.
Preserving wide TSA discretion and accepting identifiers from varied programs risks inconsistent access and confusion if enrollment standards differ and oversight of screening-priority decisions is limited.
No new funding is authorized and the 180‑day reporting/update requirement may force agencies to reallocate staff and resources, creating economic strain and potentially diverting resources from other priorities.
Based on analysis of 10 sections of legislative text.
Prohibits Members of Congress from receiving preferential or expedited TSA screening and blocks TSA funds for such treatment while preserving public Trusted Traveler programs.
Bans Members of Congress from getting special or expedited access at TSA passenger and baggage screening checkpoints, and bars TSA from using funds to provide that preferential treatment. It preserves TSA’s ability to run publicly available risk-based programs (like TSA PreCheck or Global Entry) and allows Members to enroll in those programs on the same terms as the general public. The TSA Administrator must update agency policies to comply and report to Congress within 180 days on implementation.
Official title: Prohibit preferential screening for Members of Congress at airports, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 17, 2026 by John Cornyn · Last progress March 24, 2026