Rep. Jeff Miller, a Florida Republican, wants to force TSA to turn over the money left at airport security checkpoints to nonprofit agencies that provide travel assistance to military troops and their families.
 

Miller has introduced legislation to force TSA to do so. It has earned bipartisan backing, and it cleared the House Homeland Security Committee late last month.

“According to TSA, airline passengers have left behind about $500,000 at airport security checkpoints in each of the past two fiscal years,” the Congressional Budget Office said in a memo evaluating Miller’s legislation.

Miller said there are places he’d rather see the money go than to TSA. “The TSA has been keeping the pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters from your change purse to pay for their bloated bureaucracy,” Miller said. “If TSA representatives get to play ‘finders keepers’ with your hard-earned cash, what’s the incentive to try to get the loose change to its rightful owners?”

TSA didn’t respond to a request for comment.