Senate Dems Want You to Pay More for TSA Groping

Love the feel of rubber glove-covered hands of Transporation Security Administration (TSA) personnel running over your thighs and threatening to invade your underwear when you’re rushing to make a flight and have little time for state-mandated groping?

Miss those days when, if you are a relatively attractive young woman, you could count on continually being treated as a major security threat on a par with Mohammed Atta and made to pass through the “auto-porn” machine by predominantly male TSA staff before every flight? And being subjected to TSA petting after the “auto-porn” photo shoot anyway?

Well, get ready, because Senate Democrats might just have a new surprise in store for you. That’s right: Not only do they want the TSA to continue to be paid to interfere with your body; Senate Democrats want to interfere yet more with the contents of your wallet to cover the cost of said privacy-invasion:

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday moved forward with legislation to increase airline passenger security fees, beating back a GOP attempt to keep them at current levels.

The 2013 Homeland Security appropriations bill would increase one-way fees for passengers from $2.50 to $5 in order to close a budget shortfall at the Transportation Security Administration.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) said the $315 million in funding would otherwise come from taxpayers and argued it is better to stick passengers who rely on TSA with the bill.

Senate Republicans attempted to eliminate the fee increase by cutting “state and local grants, emergency food and shelter funding, and dropping $89 million in funding for a new highway interchange” benefiting the Homeland Security Department. However, those attempts were unsuccessful.

Evidently, forcing the TSA to find the money to close its own budget shortfall was also not an option, despite ongoing concerns about alleged civil liberties violations by the agency, and the need to rein in federal spending as both the deficit and national debt remain high.