What you need to know about the bill calling to abolish TSA

Established in November 2001 in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on New York City, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is a branch of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in charge of security not just at the country's airports but also other transportation systems like highways, railways and ports.

The agency is, however, most commonly associated with the shoes-off, liquids-poured-out screenings one has to go through before taking a flight. At the start of 2025, TSA released numbers saying that it screened over 904 million passengers and 494 million checked bags in the previous year.

Given that it was spearheaded by former president George W. Bush, the TSA seems like a strange target for Republicans in the Trump era. And yet Senators Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) have drafted a bill calling for its dissolution in favor of private security.