WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) joined Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Jack Reed (D-RI), along with several colleagues, in calling out Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem for violating federal law by directing airports to play blatantly partisan videos at Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints regarding shutdown staffing and delays. In a letter to Noem, the senators demanded that DHS immediately remove the videos and provide information about the federal resources used to create and distribute them.
“Federal law clearly prohibits using federal funding for partisan political activities as a violation of Section 715 of P.L. 118-47, and the requirement that airports play these videos is a violation of the Hatch Act and the Anti-Lobbying Act. At a time when federal employees, including TSA agents, are being asked to work without pay, this outwardly political act was not just a violation of law but an insult to the thousands of TSA employees serving in your department,” the Senators wrote.
The Senators continued, “This video is just the latest in a series of violations of Sec. 715 by the Trump Administration. As we reminded OMB Director Russ Vought in an October 7, 2025, letter, ‘Spirited public debate has its place, but agency resources, including websites or emails, should not be used to send overtly political, and in this case, misleading messages, to the American people.’”
This letter is cosigned by U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Tina Smith (D-MN), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Patty Murray (D-WA), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN).
To read the full text of the letter, click here.