Cross-Border Trade Enhancement Act of 2016
Floor Speech
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Mr. NEAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I stand in support of the Cross-Border Trade Enhancement Act of 2016.
This bill offers a pragmatic and bipartisan solution to a real and growing problem: Customs and Border Protection simply has not been able to keep pace, and has not been given the resources to keep pace, with the dramatic growth in travel into the United States.
In the last fiscal year, for example, the CBP processed more than 384 million passengers and more than $2.4 trillion of imported goods through our air, land, and sea ports, but the CBP's staffing levels have not kept pace with this growth over the years. The result has been substantial and unnecessary delays as passengers and cargo ships wait to be processed.
Not only is this a bipartisan issue, but just as importantly, I think it calls into meaning how we might solve some of the problems that confront America economically. A case in point: it is generally large businesses, medium-sized businesses, and small businesses that tend not to take a position in support of more government but which, in this instance, would ask for more government. There is nothing wrong with that inconsistency. In fact, I think, in this particular instance, it works quite well because they will ask for more agents for the purpose of moving cargo faster. I think that is an entirely reasonable position.
This bill will help to address those delays by increasing trade and travel efficiencies and by eliminating unnecessary redtape in the hiring process at no cost to the taxpayer.
This approach has already been tested, and it has passed the test. In 2013 and 2014, Congress authorized pilot programs, as Dr. Boustany has noted, to enable the CBP to enter into agreements with private sector, State, and local government entities that would reimburse the CBP for customs-related personnel services at ports of entry. These public- private agreements are believed to have decreased wait times by an average of 30 percent at the ports at which they were implemented. The bill also allows for more of these agreements and for a longer period of time.
For these reasons, I support this bipartisan bill, and I urge my colleagues to vote for it later on this afternoon.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. NEAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I want to thank Dr. Boustany, who has been a friend on the Ways and Means Committee. I assume this might
be his last time handling legislation on the floor. He was great to work with over the years.
I take some satisfaction, Mr. Speaker, that having either been chairman or ranking member of the Tax Policy Subcommittee of the Committee on Ways and Means, that I simply wore them all down because, every 2 years, they would send somebody else over to share that responsibility.
Dr. Boustany is a real gentleman. He has been a friend, and he has been a very nice guy to work with.
I yield back the balance of my time.
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