Lee proposes that instead of TSA, airlines could handle passenger screenings
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Sen. Mike Lee is continuing to call for the abolition of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
"Tired of being groped every time you travel? Abolish TSA," the senator said in a recent post on X.
"Make Airport Security Free Of Sexual Assault Again," Lee said in another tweet, adding, "Abolish TSA."
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Chairman Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, speaks during the Senate Energy and Natural Resources confirmation hearing for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary of Energy Chris Wright on Capitol Hill on Jan. 15, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Left: Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images; Right: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
In another post, he suggested that President Donald Trump should eliminate the TSA.
Lee suggests that instead of TSA, airlines could handle passenger screening.
"You may be required to undergo a pat-down procedure if the screening technology alarms, as part of unpredictable security measures, for enhanced screening, or as an alternative to other types of screening, such as advanced imaging technology screening," according to the TSA website. "A pat-down may include inspection of the head, neck, arms, torso, legs, and feet. This includes head coverings and sensitive areas such as breasts, groin, and the buttocks."
The agency was established in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
"The Aviation and Transportation Security Act, passed by the 107th Congress and signed on November 19, 2001, established TSA," according to the TSA's website.
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The TSA seal. (Jeffrey Greenberg/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Lee advocated the idea of nixing TSA last year as well.
"It’s time to abolish the TSA. Airlines can and will secure their own planes if a federal agency doesn’t do it for them. They’ll do it better than TSA, without undermining the Constitution and with less groping—showing more respect for passengers," the senator declared in a post last year on March 11.
Days later, Lee indicated that he had been subjected to a TSA pat down.
SEN MIKE LEE: REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS MUST IMMEDIATELY ADVANCE TRUMP'S MAGA AGENDA
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah., arrives for the Senate Republicans leadership election in the Capitol on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024 (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
"Update: days after calling to abolish TSA, I got 'randomly selected' for the needlessly slow, thorough TSA screening & patdown. Maybe it’s a coincidence. Or not. Impossible to know. That’s part of the problem with having a federal agency in charge of airport security," he tweeted on March 14, 2024.
In December, the senator shared a video of a man being subjected to a pat down.
"It’s unsettling knowing that the TSA does this countless times every day, constantly conducting needlessly invasive, warrantless, suspicion-less searches of law-abiding Americans," Lee wrote when sharing the video. "Please share if you’d like to abolish TSA," he added.
Alex Nitzberg is a writer for Fox News Digital.
