Airport Alert: Senate Appropriations Unveils FY27 DHS Recommendations With Several Airport Wins

November 13, 2026

Last evening, without any fanfare, Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) released the text for the Fiscal Year 2027 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Appropriations bill and its accompanying report. This is known as the “Chair’s mark” and reflects only Republican recommendations.

The mark recommends a total of $49.8 billion in discretionary funding for DHS, including TSA and CBP. The mark includes several airport priorities within the Transportation Security Administration section, notably:

$97.3 million to continue staffing at certain exit lanes, rejecting the administration’s proposal to shift these costs to airports.
$45.9 million to retain funding for the Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) Reimbursement Program.
$34.1 million to retain funding for Canine LEO Other Transaction Agreements.
$300 million for the screening partnership program, rejecting the administration’s proposal to mandate that all smaller airports use private screeners instead of federal screeners.
$287 million for undefined technologies at passenger security checkpoints at U.S. airports.

As a reminder, the House Committee passed FY27 DHS appropriations bill included funding for TSA to continue to staff exit lanes, funding for LEO reimbursement grants, funding for canine LEO teams, and rejecting the mandate for small airports to use private screeners.

In addition to the funding, notable report language includes:

Screening Partnership Program (SPP)—The Committee rejects the proposal and “cost increase commendation associated with mandating SPP use for small airports. While the Committee is supportive of private sector solutions, the Committee is also supportive of allowing airports to choose security models that best suit their individual needs rather than force the private sector into compliance. TSA is encouraged to continue advocating for SPP enrollment, and the committee will ensure sufficient funding is provided to support airports who enroll in the program.”
Throughput and Wait Times at TSA Checkpoints—The report expresses concern “about the impact of staffing reductions and delays in equipment and technology investment on checkpoint efficiency and the traveler experience.” The Committee requires TSA to provide quarterly briefings on “how staffing levels, including any anticipated or proposed reductions, and investments in screening equipment and technology are projected to affect passenger throughput and wait times. The briefing shall include analysis of current staffing models, deployment timelines for new technologies such as computed tomography (CT) machines, and the anticipated effects of these changes on operational efficiency and passenger wait times at checkpoints.”
TSA PreCheck Enrollment—The report expresses concern that PreCheck enrollment is well below TSA’s 70 percent goal of American fliers and urges the administration to work with private sector TSA enrollment providers to increase the number of travelers in the PreCheck program.

For U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the mark does not provide any funding for new CBP officers, noting that the agency received $64 million in the One Big Beautiful Bill to hire 5,000 new officers. However, the mark includes $4 million to transition the full salaries of 16 officers currently funded through Reimbursable Service Agreements to base appropriations, recognizing the burden these agreements can place on smaller communities that are required to pay for the entirety of the salary of an officer instead of just reimbursing for overtime.

Next Steps:

There are no plans to consider the Senate Republican draft bill at the committee level – let alone in the full Senate. By releasing the “Chair’s mark”, House and Senate leaders could begin to work on reconciling differences between this Senate Republican draft and the House version of the DHS/TSA/CBP bill before December 11, the date that federal funding is set to expire under the current continuing resolution. However, this is unlikely with the Democrats set to take over the majority in the House and Senate next year. The anticipated chairs of both the Senate and House Appropriations Committee have publicly stated that they would like another short-term CR so that Democrats can adjust the FY27 spending bills to reflect their spending priorities.

Additional Information: