Business Travelers worry about PROPOSED TSA BUDGET CUTS

CNN reported recently they obtained a new internal Transportation Security Administration (TSA) document that discloses a proposed $300 million in budget cuts. The TSA is proposing about six major cuts that, if approved, are supposed to take place sometime by the year 2020.

The proposed budget cuts are worrisome for business travelers, and include a number of changes for TSA’s employees, including reducing the number of full-time air marshals and the number of employees at TSA headquarters, as well as benefit cuts for new part-time employees. K-9 units will also be affected with a 50% cut in their reimbursements to the state and local law enforcement agencies who use them.

Changes that will impact actual checkpoints include fewer reimbursements to airports for janitorial services. That one change is projected to save more than $21 million, but likewise is bound to affect the overall TSA experience.

There's no need for immediate worry just yet, because projected spending cuts would have to be approved by Congress, who sets TSA’s budget. Hopefully many of these major cost cuts will be reviewed and rejected to ensure the utmost safety to the traveling public. Cutting costs and making new shortcuts would seem to cause real safety concerns and unnecessary risks.
These cuts may save on expenditures, but the real cost is the effect this will have on TSA employees and saftey considerations. The savings don’t seem to be worth the potential risks, as it seems unfair and unsafe to put a price on the safety of travelers and on the country at large.

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