Airlines protest use of TSA, customs fees in highway bill

Airlines and travel groups are protesting the use of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) fees to pay for an extension of federal highway spending that is expiring at the end of the month.

The Senate approved a highway bill in July that includes $4 billion from customs fees and $3.5 billion from the TSA fees in a package of offsets that were used to provide funding for three years’ worth of transportation funding. 

House Republicans similarly included about $3 billion in “savings” from redirecting the TSA fees to the nation’s highways in a transportation funding patch that is scheduled to expire Oct. 29. 

{mosads}Groups that represent airlines, airports, and travelers said airport security and custom fees should not be used to prop up other areas of the federal budget, although they support the broader goal of extending the federal government’s infrastructure spending. 

“We strongly support a long-term agreement to fund much needed infrastructure investment across the country,” the groups wrote. “However, we strongly oppose any suggestion that highway funding be generated via an increase in the aviation passenger’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) fees.” 

The groups added that the plans to tap TSA fees for additional transportation funding are “a misguided policy choice that redirected important security funds away from their intended and needed use.

“To charge travelers more without an increase in service or benefit cannot and should not become a common practice for policy makers,” the groups wrote. 

Passengers are charged up a fee of up to $11.20 for airline trips when they purchase plane tickets. The Customs and Border Patrol agency similarly collects fees from passengers when they import goods back into the U.S. 

Lawmakers are considering tapping both piles of money as they scrambling to prevent an interruption in the nation’s transportation spending at the end of the month. The Department of Transportation has said it will have to begin cutting back on payments to state and local governments unless Congress reaches an agreement on an infrastructure funding extension. 

The traditional source of transportation funding has been revenue from the 18.4 cents-per-gallon federal gas tax. The tax has not been increased since 1993, though, and has struggled to keep pace with construction costs as vehicles have become more fuel-efficient. 

The federal government typically spends about $50 billion per year on transportation projects, but the gas tax only brings in about $34 billion annually at its current rate. 

Lawmakers have turned to other areas of the federal budget in recent years to close the $16 billion annual gap, but transportation advocates have argued the resulting temporary patches are preventing states from undertaking badly needed large construction projects. 

Transportation advocates have pushed Congress to increase the gas tax for the first time in two decades to pay for a long-term infrastructure funding extension, but GOP lawmakers have been reluctant to ask drivers to pay more at the pump. 

The letter urging Congress to leave TSA and Custom fees out of a potential highway deal was signed by Airports Council International – North America; Airlines for America; the Global Business Travel Association; the International Air Transport Association; Travelers United and the U.S. Travel Association.