H.R. 2127 would require the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which is responsible for screening passengers at airport security checkpoints, to limit access to expedited screening processes to certain individuals. Under the bill, only passengers who are members of a TSA trusted traveler program, the military, or a group considered to be low risk would be eligible for expedited screening.
Based on information from TSA, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 2127 would have no significant impact on the federal budget. By limiting access to expedited screening, the bill might cause more passengers to enroll in a trusted traveler program, through which TSA pre-screens individuals using biographic and biometric information in exchange for fees charged to offset the agency’s cost of providing such services. Because the agency can keep and spend such fees (subject to provisions in annual appropriation acts), CBO estimates that any net change in TSA’s spending for credentialing activities under H.R. 2127 would not exceed $500,000 in any year. We further estimate that implementing H.R. 2127 would not significantly affect TSA’s overall costs to provide screening at airport checkpoints. Enacting H.R. 2127 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
H.R. 2127 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments.
