HAND IT OVER

DHS Eyeing Loose Coins From TSA Checkpoints to Pay for Border Operations, Says Report

Homeland Security’s funding scramble includes $3 million collected from the change air travelers leave in X-ray trays at airports.

The loose change you forget to take out of airport trays could soon be funding the Department of Homeland Security’s operations at the U.S. border with Mexico, NBC News reports. The DHS reportedly wants to take $232 million from the Transportation Security Administration in order to fund its work at the border, if Congress doesn’t agree to $1.1 billion of its funding request. The millions would reportedly include $50 million set aside by the TSA to buy advanced airport screening equipment and $64 million from a worker’s compensation fund set aside for injured employees. Bizarrely, it would also include $3 million of loose change left in trays at airports. Money for Transportation Security Officers, who run security screening lines in airports, is also “in play,” according to leaked internal docs, which could cause significant disruption over the summer if reallocated. The Daily Beast reported late Monday that Secret Service officers are being sent to the border, joining Air Marshal agents and National Park Service police.