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Cummins pledges to prioritize TSA officers at confirmation hearing

Illustration accompanying article: Cummins pledges to prioritize TSA officers at confirmation hearing
  • David Cummins, President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Transportation Security Administration, told senators at his confirmation hearing Thursday that his first task would be to visit airports and reassure employees.
  • Cummins described the existing private airport screening program as "pro-worker" and said it would not threaten the TSA workforce.
  • If confirmed, Cummins would take over an agency with thousands of employees responsible for security operations at airports nationwide.
  • The TSA has been grappling with staffing and morale issues after this year's partial government shutdown left thousands of officers working without pay and prompted about 1,100 to quit.
 2026-07-16 · 3 MIN READ

Wind project workers say Trump's stop-work orders cost them jobs

Illustration accompanying article: Wind project workers say Trump's stop-work orders cost them jobs
  • Thomas Kilday, an electrician with IBEW local 99 in Rhode Island, said he faced uncertainty and lost pay when a stop-work order on the Revolution Wind Project was issued in August 2025 — the first of two such orders later blocked by federal courts.
  • Will Gonzalez, a laborer with Laborers' local 385 in Massachusetts, said he and co-workers had training and certifications go unused after work on the Vinyard Wind 1 project was disrupted, and he described Trump's opposition as a "personal vendetta."
  • Pat Crowley, president of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO, said the administration's policy of buying out wind leases at a cost of more than $2.6bn is "foolish" and "throwing money away for the sake of their ideology."
  • The Interior Department said no jobs were eliminated, asserting that the canceled leases were not supporting employment, and said the administration is prioritizing "existing infrastructure and functioning supply chains."
  • In June, the Trump administration abandoned its legal challenge to a court ruling that tossed his executive order to freeze all wind permitting and leasing, shifting instead to buyout agreements with developers.
 2026-07-06 · 3 MIN READ
Illustration accompanying article: Firefighting union leader Bob Brooks targets Pennsylvania House seat in November toss-up