TSA must help people with criminal records get transportation jobs

What it does

The bill tells the Transportation Security Administration to write new rules within one year. The rules must help three groups get the card. These groups are: people who left prison, people in prison applying now, and people whose applications were rejected. The TSA must tell Congress how it is doing this within 180 days.

Who it affects

People with criminal records who want to work in transportation are affected. The bill removes barriers that made it hard for them to apply.

One thing to notice

The bill only requires the TSA to write guidelines. Security checks still happen. The real impact depends on what the new rules say.

From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.

Where it stands

7 cosponsors: 4 Republicans, 3 Democrats.

• Sep 3, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Sep 3, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Homeland Security and Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Homeland Security”
• Jun 24, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
• Jun 24, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported by the Yeas and Nays: 30 - 0”
• Sep 16, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote”
• Sep 16, 2026 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Van Epps moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

5 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 7 reports from Dec 2025 to Jun 2026.

Those reports show $1,190,000 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 13 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.

More groups named this bill than 78% of bills with any report.

Troy Carter, who sponsored the bill, received $1,063,248 from PACs for the 2026 election.

• American Trucking Associations — $720,000 in 1 report
• National Ocean Industries Association — $210,000 in 1 report
• Prison Fellowship Ministries — $170,000 in 2 reports
• Prison Fellowship Ministries — $60,000 in 2 reports
• Refined Technologies — $30,000 in 1 report

Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.

Words to know

• guidelines — Written rules that explain how to do something.
• Transportation Security Administration — The government agency that handles security for transportation workers and places.
• barriers — Things that make it hard or impossible to do something.
• lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
• PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
• sponsored — To sponsor a bill is to introduce it in Congress and put your name on it.