The White House released its budget proposal for fiscal year 2027 on Friday, which includes massive increases in military spending and major cuts to FEMA, federal health agencies and the EPA, among others.
The proposal, that is available onlinealso includes small steps to privatize the Transportation Security Administration, understood as a step toward the long-term goal of eliminating airport security entirely as a government function.
“The budget begins the privatization of TSA’s airport screeners by requiring small airports to enter the Screening Partnership Program, in which TSA pays for private screeners at designated airports,” the document released Friday explained.
Twenty airports participate in the Screening Partnership Program, which allows them to use private security contractors hired with public money. Some airports have joined and then left the SPP since it was first established in 2004.
“The move will save costs compared to Federal examine and begin reforming the troubled Federal agency,” the budget proposal reads.
The agency is certainly concerned, but for extremely obvious reasons. Congress has not passed legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security, of which the TSA is a part. Democrats refused to fund DHS without modest reforms to ICE, but Republicans refused. The shutdown led to long queues at the country’s airports, at least until recently.
President Trump has attempted various illegal maneuvers to address the problem, first deploying ICE agents to airports to work with the TSA. He later signed an executive order to pay TSA officers, though it is not clear where does the money come from? Under the US Constitution, only Congress has the power to appropriate money.
The 2027 budget proposal was drafted by Russ Vought, who was instrumental in writing the infamous Project 2025 plan leading up to the 2024 presidential election. Vought believes in privatizing many parts of the federal government and cutting the rest to the bone, provided there is no military.
Beyond the TSA, people in the White House have some exciting ideas for what they want to do with the budget next year. They requested $1.5 trillion for the military, which would raise defense spending to the highest point in modern history. CNN. And that’s included 152 million dollars To fulfill President Trump’s wish to reopen Alcatraz, the prison island that closed in 1963.
The proposal would also cut $2 billion from humanitarian aid, $393 million from housing assistance programs and $1.2 billion from the Food for Peace program, which provides food to poor people around the world.
The budget is about what you’d expect Trump and his cronies to deliver after taking the reins on the federal government with DOGE.
