Days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to pay Transportation Security Administration workers who had gone unpaid since Feb. 14, he released a budget request Tuesday for fiscal year 2027 that would include cutting more than 9,400 full-time TSA employees and reducing the agency's net discretionary funding amount by more than $1.5 billion.
TSA currently has about 60,000 employees. The cuts, if approved, represent nearly 16 percent of the agency staff.
TSA workers had not been paid due to the partial shutdown of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. During that time, at least 1,600 TSA workers quit, while others had been calling out. This resulted in staffing shortages at some airports, with wait times for security lines surging to three or more hours at some locations.
Trump's budget request also calls for the privatization of some TSA airport screeners by requiring small airports to enroll in the Screening Partnership Program, under which TSA pays for private screeners at designated airports. "The airports that already use this program have demonstrated savings compared to Federal screening operations," according to the published budget.
Security is handled by private companies at about 20 U.S. airports, including at San Francisco, Kansas City, Orlando Sanford and 17 smaller airports, according to CNN.
[Update, April 8] As the U.S. prepares for upcoming major events and Americans continue to travel in record numbers, "we believe the priority should be greater investment in security and facilitation technology and the TSA officers who operate it to ensure the system can securely, efficiently and reliably meet the demands of the traveling public," Airlines for America said in a statement.
Neither the U.S. Travel Association nor the TSA's employee union, the American Federation of Government Employees, immediately responded to requests for comment.