[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 67 (Friday, May 22, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E951-E952]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     DRUG FREE BORDERS ACT OF 1998

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. PHILIP M. CRANE

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 19, 1998

  Mr. CRANE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3809, the 
Drug Free Borders Act of 1998.

[[Page E952]]

  I am pleased that the House is taking up this important legislation 
which was reported by the Committee on Ways and Means on Thursday, May 
14, by a bipartisan vote 29-0. I believe that H.R. 3809 will lead to a 
stronger and a more effective Customs Service better able to interdict 
illegal narcotics while still facilitating passengers and cargo through 
major land and sea ports.
  H.R. 3809 would increase the authorization for the U.S. Customs 
Service drug enforcement efforts by an additional $232 million over the 
President's request for fiscal year 1999. Within two years, H.R. 3809 
would add 1,745 additional Customs inspectors, canine enforcement 
officers, special agents, intelligence analysts, and internal affairs 
agents to our Southern border with Mexico, our Northern border with 
Canada, southeast Florida seaports, and major metropolitan locations. 
It will target areas where significant drug smuggling, drug 
transportation and distribution networks, and money laundering 
operations exist.
  I am proud to help rebuild our nation's defense against drug 
smugglers that prey upon our children. In H.R. 3809, we have the 
ability to give Customs the tools it needs to meet this national goal. 
We must work to stop illicit drug use by strengthening the ability of 
the Customs Service to stop the flow of heroin, cocaine and other drugs 
into our country. Stopping drugs from entering the country and 
preventing drugs from getting into the hands our children must be a 
high priority of this Congress as well as the Customs Service.
  H.R. 3809 would also correct significant problems with the overtime 
and night time pay of Customs Officers and would devote any savings to 
additional drug enforcement. The Committee on Ways and Means 
Subcommittee on Trade, which I am privileged to Chair, held hearings on 
March 11, 1997, May 15, 1997, and again most recently on April 30, 
1998. These hearings, at which the General Accounting Office, 
Department of the Treasury's Office of the Inspector General, as well 
as the National Treasury Employees Union testified, shed light upon 
some disturbing practices resulting from previous Congressional 
legislation and arbitral rulings. They found that in certain 
circumstances Customs pays its officers overtime, which is two times 
their regular rate of pay, when those officers are not even working. In 
some instances, Customs officers are also paid night pay for hours 
worked at noon or one in the afternoon.
  H.R. 3809 would not only resolve these problems but would use any 
overtime and night pay savings to pay for additional overtime for those 
officers already working to interdict cocaine, heroin and other drugs 
illegally entering the United States. This bill would also give Customs 
more flexibility in the operation of the fiscal year cap on overtime 
pay and at the same time allow Customs officers the opportunity to earn 
even more overtime.
  H.R. 3809 seeks to ensure that the Customs Service is not prevented 
from performing its legitimate drug interdiction efforts or that the 
integrity of the Customs Service is diminished. Customs must have every 
tool in its arsenal to ensure the integrity of its Customs officers. 
Specifically, granting the Secretary of the Treasury the authority to 
rotate up to 5 percent of Customs officers to new permanent duty 
locations each year starting in fiscal year 2000, will help guarantee 
the integrity of Customs officers and is similar to the authority 
Customs currently has for its special agents. This provision would 
become effective after the conclusion of the current contract between 
Customs and its union to ensure that it does not abrogate the terms of 
that contract, as some have argued it would.
  H.R. 3809 also addresses another serious weakness in the ability of 
Customs to interdict illegal narcotics. That weakness is Customs' 
current inability to implement certain measures while labor 
negotiations drag on, as they have for nearly four years in one case. 
The bill would allow the Commissioner of Customs to immediately 
implement any proposed changes without waiting 90 days for the parties 
to bargain. This would mean that Customs could respond in time to the 
dangerous changing tactics of drug smugglers. Contrary to statements 
made by the bill's opponents, this bill would not interfere with the 
union's bargaining rights or with other rights of the union, such as 
redress before the Federal Service Impasse panel. This bill gives 
Customs the flexibility to get to the battlefield on time and win the 
war on drugs.
  I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3809 and stop drugs from 
destroying the lives of our children and grand children.

                          ____________________