No, it's not "regulatory policy". It's been done entirely with some combination of secret "Security Directives" and "rulemaking by press release". As the article and the linked references explain, the TSA never issued any regulations, published any of the required notices, or obtained any of the approvals that would have been required even if Congress had passed an (unconstitutional) authorizing statute (which it didn't).

No. Policy or regulation would have a basis in law. This administration has aptly demonstrated their contempt for the law. Nobody gives a shit about some grunt federal employee getting extra work.

This is just a way to compel compliance and to push the agenda for ID with higher documentary requirements, ultimately to deny the vote.

I mean I could hire someone to continuously dig and refill the a hole in the ground. That would certainly be them doing a thing, but it would also definitely be fake work. There's been plenty of rhetoric thrown around but no real evidence has been produced that suggests the TSA isn't engaging in a bit of circular digging at the taxpayer's expense with this.

As I mentioned[0] a few months ago after the TSA announced the $45 "fee":

   ...The courts have repeatedly struck down limits on domestic travel over the 
   past couple hundred years.

   In fact, the $45 "fee" is an acknowledgment that you aren't required to have 
   special documents to travel within the US. Otherwise, they just wouldn't let 
   you travel.

   So instead, they're making more security theater and punishing you if you 
   don't comply with their demands...

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46128346

... and the law in most states requires only that you give your name and possibly your DOB to the authorities upon detainment. So as a purely academic exercise, what can they even do if you refuse to answer beyond that? Obviously in practice they will fuck with you or just straight up violate the constitution, but theoretically I'm unsure how they can continue to seize you after that.