H.R. 2843 would require the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to undertake efforts to expand enrollment in the PreCheck program. Through that program, air travelers voluntarily apply to be prescreened using biographic and biometric information to determine whether they qualify for expedited screening at airport security checkpoints. The act would direct TSA to publish standards to allow private-sector entities to provide certain services to support increased enrollment and to specify other requirements for the program’s expansion.
Based on information from TSA, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 2843 would have no significant impact on the federal budget. According to the agency, many of the activities required by the legislation are consistent with efforts the agency plans to undertake, under current law, to expand the PreCheck program. Further, because the agency can keep and spend fees that applicants pay for prescreening services (subject to provisions in annual appropriation acts), CBO estimates that any net change in TSA’s spending for increased credentialing activities under H.R. 2843 would not be significant in any year. We also estimate that implementing H.R. 2843 would not significantly affect TSA’s overall costs to provide screening at airport checkpoints.
Enacting H.R. 2843 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO estimates enacting the legislation would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2026.
H.R. 2843 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments.
On July 17, 2015, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 2843 as ordered reported by the House Committee on Homeland Security on June 25, 2015. The two versions of the legislation are similar, and the CBO cost estimate for each version is the same.
