The Senate just unanimously approved a proposal that would end the special treatment members of Congress currently get at airports. This measure, which passed on a Thursday night, aims to strip away the privilege that allows lawmakers to speed through or completely bypass standard TSA screening checkpoints. This means they might soon have to wait in those notoriously long TSA security lines just like the rest of us.
Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced the legislation. According to The Hill, his goal was pretty clear: to force his Democratic colleagues to experience the same airport chaos and lengthy security queues that the public has been enduring during the ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown. That shutdown, by the way, has now dragged on for a staggering 35 days.
Airport security screenings have been brutal nationwide, with places like Houston’s Hobby Airport seeing agonizing wait times of three or four hours. Just as the situation began to get bad, Airlines banded together to lobby for TSA. Thanks to the shutdown, more TSA agents are missing work because they aren’t getting paid, which naturally leads to fewer hands on deck and much longer waits.
Sky travel really is a political football
Cornyn laid the blame for the current airport situation squarely on Democrats. He stated that “staffing constraints have not only led to longer wait times around the country but also significant delays, disruptions and missed flights.”
He then pointed out the root of his proposal. “The only reason I can fathom, other than being completely out of touch, that our Democrat colleagues would do this is not all members of Congress are being forced to experience the same mess of their own making,” Cornyn explained.
Most Americans probably don’t realize that members of Congress often get to skip the usual TSA screening process at airports. They essentially get a VIP pass, bypassing the lines everyone else has to suffer through. Cornyn believes “this should end today,” and his proposal would specifically prohibit the TSA from using any funding to provide or facilitate this kind of “expedited” passage through security.
When Senator Cornyn asked for the measure to be passed by unanimous consent, not a single senator objected. If this legislation makes it all the way through, it would permanently end preferential treatment for lawmakers at airports, even after the DHS reopens. For it to become law, though, the House of Representatives would need to pass the bill, and then President Trump would have to sign it.
Democrats have consistently blocked legislation to fully fund the DHS without the necessary reforms for ICE and CBP. However, they have tried and even begged to pass separate bills to fund critical agencies like the TSA, the Coast Guard, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, leaving out ICE and Border Patrol. Republicans have blocked these attempts.
This is what makes the proposal hilarious. Democrats want to fund TSA, and the Republicans just don’t want to leave DHS behind. So who is really getting punished here?
Published: Mar 22, 2026 09:43 am