Amid DHS shutdown, Senate approves eliminating privileges for members of Congress at airports
Sen. John Cornyn's proposal seeks to ensure that lawmakers no longer get preferential treatment and therefore must wait in the same security lines as other passengers during the shutdown.
John Cornyn on Capitol Hill/ Mandel Ngan.
The Senate passed a measure to end preferential treatment for members of Congress at airports. Amid the partial government shutdown, which affects the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the proposed John Cornyn (R-TX) passed unanimously.
The DHS shutdown occurred in mid-February, a product of the agreement between Democrats and Republicans to avoid a government shutdown in mid-January, which only funded this agency for 15 days. After the deadline, and in the midst of the controversy over the death of Alex Pretti during an immigration operation in Minnesota, Senate Democrats refused to vote in favor of the funding.
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Since then, the repercussions of the shutdown have spread across the country. The most visible consequence for Americans are the long lines at airports, a product of understaffing at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). As a result of the shutdown, agents are required to work without pay, so many quit or are absent. The bottleneck generated by the lack of people has resulted in longer than usual waits for users.
In this context, the Texas senator proposed a measure so that lawmakers no longer get preferential treatment and therefore must wait in the same security lines as other passengers during the shutdown.
">📣 Last night on the Senate floor, my bill, the End Special Treatment for Congress at Airports Act, passed the Senate unanimously. This legislation would require Members of Congress to undergo the same @TSA screening procedures as everyone else as well as prohibit the use of…
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) March 20, 2026
"As many Americans probably don’t know but most of us in Washington do know, airports around the country allow Members of Congress to bypass the usual TSA security screening process at airports nationwide. In other words, they get to skip the line. This should end today. Members of Congress are getting an unfair perk," Cornyn said after his proposal passed.
"We know trust in Congress is at an all-time low, but today, thank goodness, the Senate has taken an important step towards restoring the trust of the people we are here to represent," he added.
The bill must pass through the House of Representatives before reaching the desk of President Donald Trump.
To get DHS back to normal operations requires 60 votes in the Senate, so at least seven Democrats would have to go along with the Republican proposal. The Trump Administration is negotiating with a group of Democratic senators to reach an agreement on funding for the agency.
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