Transportation Security Administration News

Reports on Transportation Security Administration policies, airport security measures, and travel regulations. The Daily Signal provides news and conservative commentary on security effectiveness, privacy concerns, government overreach, and the balance between safety and liberty in air travel.
Filter articles by

  • Can Uber End Traffic Jams? CEO Has Bold Plan to Overhaul Transportation Industry

    Travis Kalanick gave a rare interview in San Francisco this week at the mega Dreamforce conference. Since Uber began getting regularly hammered in the press for its aggressive political tactics and potential legal violations, the once outspoken CEO hasn’t given the public much direction about the future of the multi-billion-dollar transportation company. This week, he gave…
    Greg Ferenstein
    Read More

  • How a Transportation Bill Could Revive the Export-Import Bank and Tackle Planned Parenthood

    As the Senate prepares to debate legislation addressing the financial future of the Highway Trust Fund, several senators are looking to the bill as a vehicle to address controversial issues, including Obamacare and Planned Parenthood’s federal funding. The Senate voted Wednesday night on a procedural measure to advance the highway funding bill, which has been dubbed…
    Melissa Quinn
    Read More

  • Highway Trust Fund ‘Patch’ Uses TSA Fees to Fund Roads (Yes, Seriously)

    Today the House will take up a short-term “patch” measure to shore up the Highway Trust Fund, which is set to dip below critical levels at the end of the month. The patch would keep the fund afloat through December by transferring $8.1 billion from the Treasury into the Highway Trust Fund. The measure is…
    Michael Sargent
    Read More

  • Following Agency’s Failures, TSA Reform Takes Center Stage

    The recent shortcomings of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) are not passing problems—there is a need for “fundamental” reform within the government agency, according to a panel of security specialists that convened at The Heritage Foundation on Tuesday. Chad Wolf, the former assistant administrator of the TSA, Ha Nguyen, a former adviser at the Department…
    Ryan Spaude
    Read More

  • TSA Approved 73 Airport Workers Who Were “Linked to Terrorism”

    The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) just underwent another round of government inspection, and the results are decidedly not good. The Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a report on Monday stating that the TSA failed to identify 73 individuals with “potential links to terrorism” who work in our nation’s airports. These…
    David Inserra
    Read More

  • Cartoon: Where Is the ‘Security’ in TSA?

    According to ABC News, the Transportation Security Administration failed to stop undercover agents in 67 out of 70 recent probes. David Inserra, who specializes in cyber and homeland security policy at The Heritage Foundation, wrote about the issue earlier this week: Importantly, it exposes the reality that government screeners are not necessarily the right answer…
    Glenn Foden
    Read More

  • TSA Failures Point to Need for Private Airport Security

    In an exclusive scoop, ABC News is reporting that the Transportation Security Administration failed to stop undercover agents in 67 out of 70 recent probes of TSA screening. These agents carried fake weapons through checkpoints at major airports across the country and were not stopped. ABC reports that Jeh Johnson was “apparently so frustrated by…
    David Inserra
    Read More

  • Lawmakers Had 10 Months to Fix Broken Transportation Funding. They Didn’t Do Anything.

    Another day, another punt on important policy matters by members of Congress. Faced with a May 31st deadline, lawmakers’ latest “fix” for highway funding—a two-month extension of current policy—comes after members had given themselves ten months to devise a long-term solution. To almost no one’s surprise, the ten months flew by without a whisper of…
    Michael Sargent
    Read More

  • Cartoon: Washington’s Transportation Spending

    Heritage's Michael Sargent wrote about the Highway Transit Fund earlier this week: Transportation funding could hit a dead-end at the end of the month. On May 31, the Highway Trust Fund’s authorization to pay for the nation’s highway and mass transit projects will expire. Even worse, the fund is running a $13 billion cash flow…
    Glenn Foden
    Read More

  • Why Washington Shouldn’t Control Transportation Decisions

    Predictably, President Barack Obama’s 2016 budget request calls for higher taxes to partially finance a $4-trillion spending tsunami. One of the more senseless tax hikes would fall on multinational businesses and is sought to pay for a transportation budget more lavish than necessary. It’s baffling why Obama would propose this tax on businesses’ foreign income,…
    Emily Goff
    Read More

  • Support Family-Friendly, Economically-Wise Policies—Not Transportation Pork or Dependency

    Is Obama’s new federally-funded infrastructure package the key to strengthening our nation’s families? That’s the argument of W. Bradford Wilcox of the American Enterprise Institute and Robert Lehrman of the Urban Institute in their essay “How to Revive the American Dream in Blue-Collar America.” It’s a misguided policy prescription, the fruit of a commitment to…
    Ryan T. Anderson
    Read More

  • Senate Hearing: Four Surface Transportation Policies Worth Knowing About

    The latest bailout of the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) expires at the end of May, so the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee called a hearing to discuss the reauthorization of the federal highway and transit programs funded through the trust fund. Conspicuously absent from the discussion were calls to eliminate wasteful spending in reliable…
    Emily Goff
    Read More

  • Audit: Va. Department of Transportation Squandered Millions on Lousy Contractor

    RICHMOND, Va. — A confidential audit found that the Virginia Department of Transportation wasted millions of tax dollars by failing to fine a nonperforming contractor. The Office of the State Inspector General concluded “at least $3 million” was “wasted” by VDOT management for not holding Serco Inc. accountable for allegedly incomplete or undone work. Serco…
    Kenric Ward
    Read More

  • Spending Bill: House Caves to Senate on Transportation Funding

    In last minute, high pressure negotiations over spending bills on Capitol Hill, the House often caves to the Senate’s higher, irresponsible levels of spending. On Tuesday, they did it again. This time, they caved with the omnibus spending bill for fiscal year 2015 spending. Higher spending levels emerged on a variety of programs that merit…
    Emily Goff
    Read More

  • Which City Has the Freest Transportation Market? This Map Ranks the Best and Worst

    Is your city transportation-friendly? A new interactive scorecard, created by the R Street Institute, grades 50 cities on their regulatory openness toward car services. The report seeks to identify whether cities encourage competition in the transportation market. Andrew Moylan, senior fellow at the R Street Institute, said the scorecard provides a snapshot of the current regulatory…
    Alex Anderson
    Read More

  • Dropping the TSA: 19th Airport Joins More Efficient Private Screening Program

    Tired of long lines at TSA airport checkpoints? Today, the Orlando Sanford International Airport (SFB) began a transition to private security screeners rather than Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screeners in a change that promises more efficient security measures. SFB just joined the TSA’s Screening Partnership Program (SPP) that allows airports to replace TSA screeners with…
    David Inserra
    Read More

  • States Already Have Transportation Funding Independence

    Campaigning this week for more federal transportation spending, President Obama said, “There’s something called the Highway Trust Fund [HTF]—I suspect this crew is familiar with it. It helps states support transportation projects. If Congress fails to fund it, it runs out of money.” Indeed, the House just passed a $10.8 billion bailout of the HTF…
    Emily Goff
    Read More

  • Here’s a Crazy Idea: What About Reforming Transportation Spending Instead of Hiking Taxes?

    Americans know the drill. When Congress faces a gap between its spending wants and available money, it is quick to ask for more money, instead of fixing the spending side of the budget ledger. This time it’s Senate Finance Committee chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who has proposed a rag tag group of revenue provisions, including…
    Emily Goff
    Read More