Hearing Report: House Hearing on Ways to Improve U.S. Travel System to Prepare for Significant International Events

House Committee Held a Hearing on Ways to Improve U.S. Travel System to Prepare for Significant International Events
April 8, 2025

This morning, the House Transportation and Maritime Security Subcommittee held a hearing titled “America on the Global Stage: Examining Efforts to Secure and Improve the U.S. Travel System and Prepare for Significant Travel Events”. The hearing focused on public and private sector efforts to secure and improve the U.S. travel system ahead of high-profile international events such as the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, the 2026 FIFA World Cup, America’s 250th anniversary, and the 2028 Summer Olympics. While President Trump has already established a task force, led by the Department of Homeland Security, that will provide senior leadership and coordination across government to ensure the U.S. is fully prepared to accommodate the millions of travelers expected for the 2025 Club World Cup and the 2026 World Cup events, both members of Congress and the witnesses repeatedly stressed that much more needs to be done.

Today’s witnesses discussed a wide range of topics, including the need for faster deployment of the latest TSA technologies, the diversion of aviation security passenger fees, the need for more TSA and CBP officers, the impact of ending TSA’s collective bargaining agreement, a proposal to fully privatize screening functions at airports, the need to deploy counter unmanned aircraft system (C-UAS) technologies, and the need for faster visa processing by the U.S. State Department. The hearing’s witnesses were:

Geoff Freeman, President and Chief Executive Officer, U.S. Travel Association;
Jon Gruen, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Fortem Technologies; and
Everett Kelley, National President, American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE)

TSA Technologies and Aviation Security Fees:

Subcommittee Chair Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), Ranking Member LaMonica McIver (D-NJ), and U.S. Travel President Geoff Freeman all expressed support to more rapidly procure and deploy state-of-the-art technologies at TSA checkpoints to improve security and reduce wait times. They also expressed concern about the ongoing diversion of about one-third of the aviation security passenger fees collected to pay for deficit reduction.

Chair Gimenez explicitly stated that he opposes the diversion of fees and believes that all of the fees collected should be used to fully support TSA needs, including procuring the latest security technologies more expeditiously. Under current funding levels, technologies like computed tomography and biometric readers will not be fully deployed at all airports until 2042 and 2049, respectively. Freeman advocated for the immediate end of the fee diversion and instead use those resources to install these advanced technologies at all airports within the next five years.

Also, Ranking Member McIver voiced concern about proposals to extend the diversion of the aviation security passenger fee and to raise the fee to pay for tax cuts. AAAE has long advocated for the immediate end of the fee diversion and has opposed any extension as part of budget reconciliation.

Additional Federal Personnel Needed to Handle Increased Travel Demand:

U.S. Travel repeatedly stressed the importance of having more TSA and CBP officers to process the influx of visitors attending these global events. AAAE has been advocating for a total of 6,000 new CBP officers, including 2,000 at airports, to be included in the border section of budget reconciliation. U.S. Travel’s written statement also highlighted the need to automate and fully staff the Federal Aviation Administration’s air traffic control towers, another item AAAE has supported.

Ranking Member McIver and AFGE National President Everett Kelley raised concerns about the recent dismantling of TSA’s collective bargaining agreement in early March. Both highlighted that this agreement and the implementation of pay parity in July 2023 stabilized TSA’s workforce and reduced attrition rates by about 50 percent. According to Kelley, terminating the collective bargaining agreement has undermined TSA employee morale and job satisfaction. He predicted this would lead to higher attrition rates, which “couldn’t come at a worse time with all of these upcoming high-profile events.”

Privatizing the Screening Function at TSA:

Ranking Member McIver highlighted that the end of collective bargaining was the first step in Project 2025’s proposal to privatize security screening at all airports, shifting those costs away from TSA to airports. She believes this “would throw the entire aviation security system into chaos and return it to the pre-September 11” environment, which was less secure. She stated that Democrats would fight this proposal. AAAE has also voiced strong concerns about the Project 2025 proposal on Capitol Hill.

C-UAS:

Members of the subcommittee and Fortem Technologies Chairman Jon Gruen raised concerns about drones actively flying over stadiums during these high-profile events. Gruen testified that federal authorities are spread out among multiple different agencies. Mitigating a rogue drone requires federal approval, a slow process that “prohibits response in real time.” He recommended a centralized and streamlined counter-drone process be adopted as soon as possible, like that contained in the bipartisan counter-drone legislation (H.R. 8610) from the last Congress. Also, he recommended delegating C-UAS authorities to more state and local law enforcement, even if it is temporary authorization just for these events. Gruen elaborated that” state and local law enforcement involvement will enable greater flexibility, faster responses, and better security at a 12+ city event like the World Cup, where there may not be enough federal personnel or assets to deploy. Empowering state and local law enforcement to defend high-risk locations from unauthorized drones will be critical to success.”

More Details:

You can watch the entire hearing on the Committee website and review the witnesses' hearing statements for more details about their recommendations.