Airport Alert: Facial Recognition Bill Pulled from Senate Commerce Business Meeting

July 30, 2025

This morning, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee pulled S. 1691, the Traveler Privacy Protection Act, from consideration at its business meeting. That bill and a proposed substitute amendment would have limited TSA’s use of facial recognition technology at security checkpoints and stifled planned innovations designed to handle increased passenger volume. AAAE was part of a broad coalition of aviation industry associations and technology providers that raised numerous concerns with the Committee about this bill and the substitute amendment and asked to delay consideration to collect more feedback that could be used to improve the legislative text.
 
Thank you to those airports that echoed our concerns and requests for a delay with your Senators. While we were successful today, AAAE anticipates that the Committee will consider this bill at a later date, perhaps as part of a broader TSA reauthorization proposal this fall. We will continue to work to develop a more balanced bill that permits biometrics to be used in ways that enhance our national security, do not hinder future innovations at security checkpoints, and improve the overall travel experience.