House prepping bill to relieve long airport lines

The top lawmaker on the House Homeland Security Committee plans on introducing legislation next week to help the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) combat growing airport lines around the country.

After a meeting with airport officials, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said Thursday he will be introducing a bill aimed at providing TSA greater staffing flexibility. Staffing shortages at the agency have led to increasingly overwhelmed security lines, longer wait times and missed flights.

{mosads}The problem is only expected to grow worse as summer travel increases, and lawmakers have just a week and half left before breaking for the Memorial Day recess — one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.

“This is a crisis,” McCaul said.

The bill hasn’t been written yet — and won’t be released until after a hearing next Wednesday with TSA administrator Peter Neffenger — but McCaul said it will include language to temporarily allow airports to pay for overtime for TSA screening officers if they choose.

The measure would sunset the language to ensure it is only temporary.

McCaul called overtime pay a “band-aid” to the larger problem, but said it will provide temporary relief for travelers in the short-term.

Congress already approved shifting $34 million in TSA’s budget to hire and train nearly 800 new screening officers and pay for overtime for current ones. New officers will be starting in June. McCaul said an emergency appropriation, however, is highly unlikely.

McCaul said his biggest takeaway from Wednesday’s meeting with airport officials is that there is a serious lack of communication between local airports and the TSA. He said getting input from local airports would help TSA better match staffing with passenger volume needs.

“If they worked together in a partnership, they could identify peak times and identify what needs to be done from a staffing perspective,” he said.

McCaul is also encouraging TSA to shift 3,000 officers from a controversial behavior-detection program to normal checkpoint screening duties.