Sponsors (11)
The bill secures continuous funding for TSA operations and aviation security infrastructure during appropriations gaps—protecting screening services and pay—but does so by restricting fee revenue use and reducing congressional budgetary oversight and flexibility.
Transportation security officers (TSA personnel) keep receiving pay, benefits, and overtime during federal funding lapses because the Fund can cover salaries without new appropriations.
Air travelers continue to receive screening services and experience faster recovery of operations during shutdowns because the Fund supports screening operations and technology when appropriations lapse.
Airport checkpoint and baggage-screening technology and other aviation security infrastructure would get sustained investment, improving long-term screening efficiency and threat detection.
Passengers and fee payers face reduced congressional oversight and annual accountability because fee revenues are made available without further appropriation or review.
Locking 9/11 Security Fee revenue into restricted uses reduces Congress's flexibility to reallocate funds for other priorities, which could increase borrowing or force cuts elsewhere in the federal budget.
Making personnel and operations the primary funding priority could delay funding for technology and infrastructure projects until staffing needs are fully met.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Introduced March 16, 2026 by Nicholas A. Langworthy · Last progress March 16, 2026
Creates a new Transportation Security Trust Fund that takes in the 9/11 passenger security fees and makes those dollars available to TSA without further annual appropriation. The Fund is restricted to aviation security uses (pay and benefits for frontline personnel, screening operations, checkpoint and baggage technology, airport security infrastructure, and related R&D and grants), and forbids transfers of the money to the general Treasury or for non-aviation purposes. The bill requires TSA to prioritize personnel pay and staffing first (including salaries, benefits, and overtime for Transportation Security Officers and other screening staff) and to maintain operations during funding lapses by using Fund balances at an operations rate no greater than the prior fiscal year until normal appropriations resume. It also creates a dedicated account inside the Fund for modernization and infrastructure that becomes available only after personnel and core operational needs are met.