To: Members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
From: National Taxpayers Union
Date: April 14, 2026
Subject: NTU’s Views on April 14 Committee Markup
I. Introduction and Key Taxpayer Considerations
On behalf of National Taxpayers Union (NTU), the nation’s oldest taxpayer advocacy organization, we write to express our views on several measures slated for consideration before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on April 14, 2026. NTU applauds the Committee for its ongoing efforts to advance legislation that improves government efficiency, protects taxpayers, and brings more accountability to America’s transportation systems. While we view this markup very much as a mixed bag for taxpayers, we hope it will guide future legislation in a more pro-taxpayer direction. As such, NTU strongly urges Committee members to support S. 2378, and oppose S. 1885 and S. 3597.
II. Legislation NTU Supports at April 14 Markup
S. 2378, SAFEGUARDS Act – Support. This bipartisan legislation, introduced by Sens. Moran (R-KS), Van Hollen (D-MD), Bennet (D-CO), Boozman (R-AR), and many others, finally ends the misguided diversion of security fees that airline passengers pay. Airline passengers currently pay a fee of $5.60 for a one-way ticket, intended to fund aviation security. However, over the last decade, more than $13 billion of the collected fees have been diverted to non-security uses, which violates the purpose for which these fees were imposed in the first place. If these resources had remained with TSA where they belonged, the agency could have built up an emergency fund to help tide essential workers over during government shutdowns. Alternatively, Congress could repeal the Passenger Security Fee entirely and fund the forward-facing portion of TSA’s responsibilities only through general revenues. In the interim, ending this fee diversion is a commonsense move that will benefit the security professionals safeguarding America’s airports.
III. Legislation NTU Opposes at April 14 Markup
S. 1885, Stop the Scroll Act – Oppose. This legislation, introduced by Sens. Britt (R-AL) and Fetterman (D-PA), would require social media platforms to add warning labels about the potential mental health impacts of using social media. Specifically, it would require platforms to “warn” users through pop-up alerts, essentially a “government knows best” directive that users would have to affirmatively acknowledge each time they log on to enjoy their favorite platforms. The government should not be in the business of deciding what is “healthy” or not—it should be up to individuals and parents to make those determinations for themselves. Parents should likewise discuss with their children the benefits and challenges of social media, which would be far more constructive than pop-up alerts. This legislation would also expand the powers of the Federal Trade Commission to investigate and enforce these new regulations.
S. 3597, the National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act – Oppose. This legislation, introduced by Sens. Young (R-IN), Cantwell (D-WA), and many others, would expand a federal industrial policy that would be better left to the private sector. We are concerned that this legislation is a significant expansion of the federal government’s role in building out our nation’s quantum industry, particularly through numerous new hubs and centers. NTU recognizes the importance of this critical industry and how its outcomes can be beneficial to real-world applications and productivity, but these investments should be borne by private sector actors, not taxpayers. Most concerningly, this legislation authorizes over $500 million in spending that is not offset with reductions elsewhere in the federal budget. Rather than spend more taxpayer resources, a better approach would be to identify and retool regulations that might be inhibiting quantum’s potential for deployment here in the United States.
IV. Contact Information
Should you have any questions about the recommendations in this memo, please do not hesitate to reach out to Thomas Aiello at taiello@ntu.org.