Organizations representing the travel, tourism, airport and airline industries presented a letter to the leadership of the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee on Oct. 7 voicing their opposition to a provision on the highway bill approved by the U.S. Senate.
Airlines for America, Airports Council International-North America, the Global Business Travel Association, the International Air Transport Association, Travelers United and the U.S. Travel Association are opposed to a provision that would take $9.2 billion collected from travelers to pay the Transportation Security Administration and Customs and Border Protection for security and divert it to the highway trust fund.
“Airline passengers should not be used as a piggy bank to pay for highway investments that benefit highway users,” the letter says. “Additionally, using TSA security fees to offset the deficit in the Bipartisan Budget Act was a misguided policy choice that redirected important security funds away from their intended and needed use. To charge travelers more without an increase in service or benefit cannot and should not become a common practice for policy makers.”
