Republicans in the U.S. Senate are not backing down in their fight to put limitations on the use of facial scanning technologies by such entities as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). 

Politico reports that the Senate Republicans "are not backing down" despite intense lobbying by those in favor of such technologies.

Instead, the Republicans are looking to protect the privacy of Americans.

Before we get to the latest developments, let's take a quick look at what is going on, as this effort has, for the most part, flown under the radar.

Background

A group of Congressional Republicans is pursuing legislation aimed at limiting the use of facial recognition technologies. The Republicans do have some Democratic support.

Those leading the effort include  Sens. John Kennedy (R-LA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Roger Marshall (R-KS), and Ed Markey (D-MA).

Early this year, Kennedy released a statement, saying:

The TSA subjects countless law-abiding Americans to excessive facial recognition screenings as they travel, invading passengers’ privacy without even making it clear that they can opt out of the screening. The Traveler Privacy Protection Act would protect Americans’ ability to say ‘no’ to these facial scans and safeguard the personal data that the TSA collects.

The effort, though, has received substantial pushback.

Recently, The Hill reported:

A group representing several major airlines alongside travel companies and airports is opposing a Senate bill that would require the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to generally use manual ID verification at security checkpoints instead of facial recognition.

The latest

Just recently, the bill has been pulled, suggesting that the effort has been defeated. According to Politico, though, Republicans are not giving up that easily.

Per the outlet:

On the surface, Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz had to cancel consideration of the bipartisan bill that would put guardrails on the airport security screening tool due to intense lobbying from the travel industry, which had sowed seeds of doubt among committee members.

That's only on the surface, though.

Below the surface, the Republicans are making it clear that they are not giving up on this bill, for they believe it is in the interest of Americans.

Politico notes:

The bill would require the TSA to clearly notify every passenger of their right to opt out of facial screenings at airport security checkpoints and choose a manual identity verification process instead. It also would put broad limits on the administration’s ability to store biometric information of passengers captured by the airport scans.