Bill would give loose change left at airports to USO not TSA

— -- Every year, passengers leave behind hundreds of thousands of dollars in spare change at airport checkpoints.

The Transportation Security Administration says it strives to return the money. But since 2005, Congress has let it keep the money for its operating budget.

In 2010, the TSA's most recent count, it amounted to $409,085. Passengers at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport left the most loose change, $46,918.06, with Los Angeles International Airport passengers leaving $19,110.83 and $16,523.83 by those at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson.

Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., says that money could be better used by the USO to support troops than by the TSA, and has a bill that would do that.

"I think the taxpayers and travelers would think it's more appropriate that that extra change be donated to a group like the USO," he says.

Miller says he's also contemplating expanding his bill to include passing on the USO the value of useful items — such as sunglasses, cameras and computers — that passengers forget at checkpoints.

The TSA won't say what it thinks of Miller's idea. It doesn't comment on pending legislation.