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U.S. Border Patrol Medical Screening Standards Act

Floor Speech

By: Jim Banks
By: Jim Banks
Date: Sept. 26, 2019
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Health and Health Care Immigration

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Mr. BANKS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding.

I oppose H.R. 3525 because it is poorly conceived, erroneously drafted, and extremely risky.

This bill would require the Border Patrol to divert resources from its core mission of protecting our Nation's borders and create a new medical screening system for those who illegally cross and enter the country between ports of entry. I believe every part of that is wrongheaded.

However, even if you agree with the policy, this is not the way to do it. Handing DHS and CBP a 30-day mandate to put an electronic health records system in place has no basis in reality.

VA is currently in the second year of a 10-year, $16 billion EHR overhaul. I spend much of my time in Congress overseeing it on the Veterans' Affairs Committee.

The EHR implementation is a tall order for the VA, which has tens of thousands of doctors and nurses, a huge health IT budget, and healthcare as its core mission.

The DHS Chief Information Officer and CBP have none of those things. All available evidence indicates giving them that mandate is deeply unwise.

There is no score or cost estimate whatsoever. The score that was filed is from the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002, which is completely unrelated.

We are being asked to vote on this legislation blindly. Based on the experience of institutions similar in size to CBP that have implemented EHRs, the price tag could easily run into the billions. Five to 10 years is a realistic timeline, not 30 days.

Altogether, I think this is a mistake, even if well-intentioned.

We should be devoting our resources to reducing border crossings between ports of entry. We should prioritize getting detainees out of Border Patrol custody and into ICE and HHS custody, which already have mandates and capabilities to provide medical care.

I strongly oppose H.R. 3525 for these reasons, and I strongly urge my colleagues to vote ``no.''

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