S. 1691 · 119th Congress

Traveler Privacy Protection Act of 2025

Introduced on May 8, 2025 by Jeff Merkley (D-OR). 5 cosponsors, 3 of them from another party. Latest action (May 8, 2025): Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Stage
Introduced
Introduced
May 8, 2025
Cosponsors
5
3 from the other party
Policy area
Transportation and Public Works
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Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. 2Reported by committee
  3. 3Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

A bill to limit the use of facial recognition technology in airports, and for other purposes.

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Introduced in Senate, May 8, 2025). Public domain.

Traveler Privacy Protection Act of 2025

This bill limits the use of facial recognition or matching technology (e.g., matching and identification software) in airports for passenger screening.

In general, the bill restricts the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA’s) use of the technology to performing passenger identity verification at airport screening locations. The TSA must notify passengers prior to each use of the technology and receive affirmative express consent. If a passenger opts out of the use of the technology, then the TSA must perform identity verification using an approved identification document (e.g., a state driver's license) without collecting biometric information (e.g., fingerprints).

For a passenger using a trusted traveler program (e.g., Global Entry), the TSA must provide notice on the use of the technology at the time of program enrollment and renewal and as the passenger approaches the point of identity verification. The passenger must have the option to opt out.

The bill prohibits the TSA from (1) subjecting a passenger who opts out of the screening to discriminatory treatment or less favorable screening conditions; (2) using the technology to track or identify passengers outside of the screening location or to enable systemic, indiscriminate, or wide-scale monitoring, surveillance, or tracking; and (3) sharing biometric information collected through the use of the technology. The bill also limits the amount of time that the TSA may store the information collected.

Further, these restrictions and requirements apply to the TSA's use of the technology in other specified circumstances (e.g., employee screenings).

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

Jeff MerkleyD-ORSponsor

Democrats · 2

Republicans · 3

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

No recorded roll call on this measure: it moved by voice vote or unanimous consent, or has not reached the floor.

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. May 8, 2025Introduced in Senate
  2. May 8, 2025 · SenateRead twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Who lobbied on it

Organizations whose lobbying reports (LD-2) name this measure. Spending is what they reported for those quarters on all issues, not on this measure alone.

  1. U.S. TRAVEL ASSOCIATION8 reports
    $3.3M reported (all issues)
  2. AIRPORTS COUNCIL INTERNATIONAL-NORTH AMERICA5 reports
    $714.5K reported (all issues)
  3. Air Transport Association of America, Inc. (d/b/a Airlines for America)5 reports
    $6.2M reported (all issues)
  4. Delta Air Lines, Inc.5 reports
    $7.5M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: DELTA AIR LINES, INC.$8.9M in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  5. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF AIRPORT EXECUTIVES4 reports
    $4.3M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF AIRPORT EXECUTIVES INC$12.3K in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  6. IDEMIA IDENTITY & SECURITY USA, LLC4 reports
    Federal contractor: IDEMIA IDENTITY & SECURITY USA LLC$33.5M in contracts, FY2026AI match · 91%
  7. SOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER4 reports
    $580K reported (all issues)
  8. AMERICAN FED OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO3 reports
    $996K reported (all issues)
  9. HAWAIIAN AIRLINES, INC.3 reports
    $450K reported (all issues)Federal contractor: HAWAIIAN AIRLINES, INC$619.5K in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  10. American Civil Liberties Union2 reports
    $1.2M reported (all issues)
  11. IDEMIA Civil Identity NA LLC2 reports
    $100K reported (all issues)
  12. Airlines for America1 report
    $30K reported (all issues)
  13. Idemia Identity & Security USA, LLC (formerly IDEMIA Civil Identity NA LLC)1 report
    $50K reported (all issues)Federal contractor: IDEMIA IDENTITY & SECURITY USA LLC$33.5M in contracts, FY2026AI match · 98%
  14. UNITED AIRLINES, INC.1 report
    $1M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: UNITED AIRLINES, INC.$11.9M in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%

Reports filed in 2025, 2026.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 9, 2026 · loaded Oct 9, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 9, 2026 · loaded Oct 9, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.
  • Money and votes are shown side by side; neither explains the other.