DHS BUDGET REQUEST WOULD ENABLE HISTORIC TSA STAFFING INCREASE
March 27, 2018
DHS has announced that the White House fiscal 2019 budget request released on February 12, 2018 would allow TSA to make a historic hiring increase. The budget request includes $3.2 billion to help TSA hire an additional 687 transportation security agents, which would be the largest staffing boost in the agency’s history.
The Trump administration, however, has announced in a supplemental budget document that it still seeks to eliminate a reimbursement grant program for airports that hire state and local law enforcement—a plan that has been widely rebuked by airport groups and certain lawmakers in the past year.
The Trump administration’s fiscal 2019 budget also prioritizes the adoption of new aviation security technology. TSA is asking for $74 million to purchase 145 new 3-D computed tomography scanners. This figure is slightly higher than the $71 million the White House included for aviation security technology in a fiscal 2019 budget request document released earlier this month.
Lawmakers have been pressuring TSA to expedite its deployment of CT technology to U.S. airports. However, TSA Administrator David Pekoske’s fiscal 2019 CT scanner deployment plan called for 300 machines. DHS has not commented on why the CT deployment plan was slashed.
If you have any questions, please contact Evelyn Sahr (esahr@eckertseamans.com, 202-659-6622) or Drew Derco (dderco@eckertseamans.com, 202-659-6665).
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