Senate Republicans not backing down in battle with TSA over facial recognition bill

Source: Politico

08/03/2025 04:00 PM EDT


Senate GOP privacy hawks are stewing over the derailment of a bill earlier this week that would limit face scanning technologies — and blaming the TSA for interference in an under-the-radar legislative battle.

On the surface, Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz had to cancel consideration of the bipartisan bill that would put guardrails on the airport security screening tool due to intense lobbying from the travel industry, which had sowed seeds of doubt among committee members.

Privately, though, Republicans who support the measure say it was the TSA itself, with the encouragement of its politically appointed leadership, that assumed a critical role in orchestrating the lobbying campaign that grew opposition and forced the legislation to be scrapped at the last minute from the markup docket.

The episode is now exposing a rift between an administration that wants to increase the use of technology to slash bureaucracy at federal agencies and Republican privacy hawks on Capitol Hill who don’t like being undermined.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/03/gop-tsa-tech-senate-cruz-00490397