TURBULENCE EXPECTED Trump’s call to privatize the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA), which we discussed in this space not long ago, is being met with headwinds from aviation leaders, including TSA workers. “I’m totally against the privatization of any airport,” says Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents TSA workers, “You don’t contract out the CIA, do you?” (The answer is “Yes, unfortunately, but it never ends well.”) Privatizing the TSA, or at the very least busting the union, was an element of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, the blueprint that the Trump Administration is definitely not (UPDATE: definitely is) using to guide its policies. 

PARKING VIOLATION Our favorite worst privatization deal in U.S. history, the Chicago parking meter sell-off, which we reported got even worse a few years ago, might get even…worser? The comically lopsided deal that ended up with Abu Dhabi financial interests in control of whether Chicago could make a bike lane or have a street fair, is being sold off to another private equity firm, Stonepeak Partners. Stonepeak also owns Omni Air International–a charter air service doing business with Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE). 

SOCIAL SECURITY PRIVATIZATION IN ITS INFANCY “Conservatives in America for 50 years have been…trying to do Social Security personal accounts,” Senator Ted Cruz told the Milken Institute Global Conference, referring to the investment funds created for newborns and seeded with thousand-dollar deposits from the federal budget, part of the One Big Beautiful Bill passed last year. “Here’s the dirty little secret. Trump accounts are Social Security personal accounts.”

Cruz then outlined how that goal was accomplished, after it failed during George W. Bush’s second administration. 

“How did we get it done this time? Because we gave the money to babies, and so the old people didn’t get pissed. But you know what? Babies grow up. And that little girl who is born this year, she is going to be 70. And the math is, if you contribute regularly to it, by the time she is 18, she will have $170,000 in that account. By the time she is 35, she’ll have $700,000 in that account.” Cruz not only stated “this will become Social Security personal accounts,” he predicted the model will create “a compelling constituency” among adults who see their kids’ accounts growing and would like a similar privatized account. (You can sacrifice your email address to the Milken Institute to get the full transcript.) 

ITEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) issued a new report that “explains why reforms to the federal corporate income tax might be more resilient than other ideas that are frequently discussed, like expanding the personal income tax to apply to unrealized capital gains or introducing a federal wealth tax.”

PUBLIC FUNDS, PUBLIC SCHOOLS Last week, ITPI announced its support for the Keep Public Funds in Public Schools Act, legislation that would repeal the federal private school voucher program included in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act–a measure that could divert over $50 billion in taxpayer funds to K-12 private and religious schools while lining the pockets of the ultra-wealthy.   

Lawmakers need to hear directly from you.

Contact your Member of Congress to:

• Educate them on the harmful effects of vouchers for public school students;
• Affirm their support for public schools;
• Oppose any efforts to expand vouchers or divert public funds to private school vouchers;
• Urge them to co-sponsor the Keep Public Funds in Public Schools Act.

The letter-writing action form found here will allow you to generate a letter directly to your member of Congress urging them to cosponsor the bill. If you are a member of an organization, please pass this along to your members.