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Washington, D.C.—While disappointed by the irresponsible actions of the House of Representatives in passing two dangerous amendments to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Appropriations bill that threaten the mission of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the leader of the nation’s largest independent union expressed determination that harmful measures will not be included in the final bill.

“We will fight to ensure such dangerous amendments will be not be included in the Senate bill,” said National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Colleen M. Kelley. “Whether looking for explosives and other prohibited items at checkpoints, inspecting rail cars, or patrolling subways with other law enforcement agencies, TSA Officers are dedicated to protecting the traveling public. These regressive amendments would do irreparable harm to the agency’s critical transportation protection mission and endanger the public,” Kelley said.

One amendment, introduced by Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), would require TSA to cut salaries and benefits by $270 million for its workforce. The amendment could force TSA to fire thousands of TSA Officers, losing critical knowledge and experience even though many airports already face staffing shortages.

The House also passed an amendment proposed by Rep. Todd Rokita (R-Ind.) prohibiting any funds from being used to implement collective bargaining rights for TSA Officers.

“Collective bargaining helps to develop fair, credible and transparent processes without interfering with management rights to accomplish agency missions,” Kelley said. “NTEU will work to defeat this proposal which would block workplace rights already held by many federal employees as we did earlier this year with the Wicker amendment on collective bargaining.”

The House did defeat an amendment by Rokita that would have reduced funding for most DHS bureaus, including TSA, by 10 percent.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments, including the entire 24,000-employee CBP workforce. NTEU also represents thousands of TSA employees and is part of a union representation election at TSA that is currently underway, with the results announced on June 23.