TSA Advocates Fight to Preserve Raises
Advocates for Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees are working to keep the raises that Congress granted in the last appropriations bill. The raises began being paid out to employees in July.
The raises covered 48,000 transportation security officers (TSOs) and 14,000 non-executive employees, with TSA saying 96 percent of the funding went to frontline workers. The raises, in some cases as high as 30 percent, brought TSA employees on par with other federal counterparts.
As negotiations for the next appropriations bill get underway, Congressional Republicans are taking aim some of the pay increases. Members want to keep the raises for frontline TSOs and eliminate raises for other employees including air marshals, explosives specialists, and canine handlers.
DHS appropriations subcommittee leader Representative David Joyce (R-OH) stated that the country is not “living in a world of unlimited funding” and that lawmakers must be “precise and thoughtful” in allocating resources.
“We want to take care of the frontline folks, and that’s what the pay raise is meant for, to get them on par with the rest of federal employees,” said Representative Joyce.
Workforce Warnings
Democrats and TSA leaders warn that paring back the raises would impact recruitment, retention, and morale, and ultimately lead to longer lines at the airport.
Representative Bennie Thompson (D-MS) led the charge for TSA pay increases and said paring back the raises is unprecedented.
“I’m not aware of any raise that’s been taken back from employees in our government, and we’ll make sure that that doesn’t happen in this situation,” said Representative Thompson.
TSA Administrator David Pekoske is also sounding the alarm, adding that rolling back raises will have major consequences for the way airport security operates.
“Pretty much everybody in TSA is either a direct provider of security services, or is one or two steps away,” Administrator Pekoske told Bloomberg Government.
Administrator Pekoske also notes the raise is paying dividends with TSA seeing a 30 percent increase in applicants for open positions and a 61 percent decrease in attrition.
Ultimately, whether the raises survive will come down to Washington negotiations.
While the House excluded the raises for non-TSOs in its $856 million budget, the Senate Appropriations Committee advanced a bill that includes $1.1 billion to preserve pay increases across the board.