[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 25 (Thursday, February 11, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S856-S858]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             TRADE FACILITATION AND TRADE ENFORCEMENT BILL

  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I come to the floor this afternoon with 
my colleague from Maine, Senator Collins, to talk about an important 
national security measure that was passed in today's Customs bill that 
the conference report included and was voted out of the Senate. The 
Customs bill included an important provision that was authored by 
myself and Senator Collins in December of last year. Called S. 2430, 
the Travel Facilitation and Safety Act, it concerned how to improve 
biometric standards for visa waiver countries. Senator Collins and I 
focused on two things: increasing security standards for those visa 
waiver countries that we believe should use better biometrics and share 
that information and data, and improving security at our airports 
before people reach the United States, so we can know that we have done 
a thorough background check and evaluation.

  Senator Collins and I want to stop potential terrorists before they 
board a plane bound for the United States.
  I thank Secretary Jeh Johnson for working with us in December on S. 
2430, and also for helping to get this included in the Customs bill.
  What we want to do is expand the customs and border security efforts 
that exist here in the United States and, if you will, expand our 
border controls to overseas airports. After the Paris attacks reignited 
a national discussion about what to do to improve U.S. security, we 
wanted to make sure that we do something specifically for those 
individuals traveling from 38 visa waiver countries. These are 
countries for whose citizens we do not require a full background check 
on individuals prior to coming to the United States. I know the Senator 
from Maine understands commerce. From the perspective of my home State, 
I know that we appreciate the free flow of people and commerce. It is 
something we depend on for our economy, but our economy also depends on 
the security of a travel system to catch bad actors before they reach 
the shores of the United States.
  Currently, manifests are checked by Homeland Security when passengers 
board a plane bound for the United States. Airline personnel perform 
some checks as well, but when no U.S. visa is required for travel to 
the United States, there is less scrutiny on those travelers before 
they reach U.S. shores, when they go through customs.
  This is something we sought to address. With an ever-changing 
security landscape around the world and the challenges that we face 
with ISIS, it is very important to continue to upgrade our security 
regime.
  Earlier this week, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper 
warned that ISIS is likely to try to attack the United States this 
year, so we must continue to do everything we can to make our country 
safe. Two incidents highlight the need for expanding the border 
protection outside the United States of America.
  One EU citizen, Mehdi Nemouche, was radicalized through multiple 
stints in prison. After he was released, he was able to cover his 
tracks and fly from the EU to Syria. He was able to carry out an attack 
on a Jewish museum when he came back to Brussels, even though he was on 
an EU watch list, because he was not placed under ongoing surveillance. 
Nothing in his travel through airports helped him to be deterred.
  German officials notified the French of his appearance in Frankfurt 
after returning from several weeks in Southeast Asia, having since 
departed Syria. There was no record of his having traveled to Syria as 
an EU resident, so he was allowed to come back into Germany and travel 
through Europe's common border zone. It was from there he entered 
Belgium unchecked to carry out his attacks.
  In addition, one of the masterminds behind the Paris attacks traveled 
back and forth between Belgium and Syria multiple times, even though he 
was known to French intelligence. His mobile phone was traced to Greece 
because of a call he made to an extremist group in Belgium. We don't 
know exactly how he crossed into Greece from Syria, but we do know that 
there are holes in the system that terrorists can exploit.
  Senator Collins and I first started working on the issue of biometric 
standards and improving our security with visa waiver countries several 
years ago after the Ressam case, in which an individual from Algeria 
went to France and from France to Canada, making up a new identity 
every step of the way. He then made it to the U.S. border in Washington 
State at Port Angeles and made up a new identity as a Canadian citizen. 
Thank God a customs and border security agent was smart enough to 
realize something was amiss, and when they checked the trunk of the 
car, they found explosives that he had planned to use to blow up LAX.
  Today's legislation makes sure our physical border checks are moved 
to overseas airports so that U.S. law enforcement officials will be 
there on the ground to check for those people who are slipping through 
the European regime and may try to board an airplane bound for the 
United States of America.
  It is very important that we continue to strengthen our security 
regime, and I believe there is more that we can do. Our bill, S. 2430, 
would have allowed

[[Page S857]]

Customs and Border Protection to expand preclearance operations at 
targeted airports where we are concerned that the U.S. has a full 
partnership. If you have traveled outside of the United States of 
America and then return, you are very well aware of what happens to you 
at Customs--something like what is depicted in this photo where 
somebody is asking you for your passport information and background. 
Many of these operations have continued to be improved, including at 
Dulles airport. Through a pilot program, they now have the latest and 
greatest biometric technology that allows for enhanced fingerprint 
identification, facial recognition pictures, and a variety of things 
that are making our air travel more secure. We would like to do the 
same thing at U.S. preclearance operations abroad, and we will keep 
working to do just that.
  We would like to see customs and border operations, which is U.S. law 
enforcement on the ground, at partnership airports for places such as 
the United Kingdom, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, and Turkey, even 
though it is not a visa waiver country, because it is a transit point 
between Syria and Europe.
  The language in the bill today shows that Congress supports efforts 
to strengthen the security of our border checks by stretching them 
overseas to these operations. Again, I appreciate Secretary Johnson's 
committed insight to constantly improving our border security. He and 
his agency have been working hard to constantly upgrade our security. 
He engaged in a conversation with Senator Collins and me last December 
on this legislation, and he has continued to help us get this language 
into the Customs bill that we just voted on.
  I so appreciate Senator Collins' focus on this issue for many years 
as the head of the Homeland Security Committee. She has since turned 
that responsibility over to Senator Johnson, and he has also been 
focused on these issues. I just want to thank her for working with me 
on this legislation over several years. In 2010, we tried to improve 
the biometric standard for visa waiver countries and passed strong 
legislation out of the Senate. Unfortunately, it was watered down to a 
lesser standard. Yet it did start the efforts on more aggressive 
biometric travel infrastructure with our visa waiver partners.
  In our bill, S. 2430, we try to set up new biometric pilot projects 
that will work with our partners overseas and test out the best 
biometrics we can use. That provision was not included today, but it's 
something we will keep working on.
  We know ISIS has set up operations and is continuing to focus on 
these visa waiver countries, as well, like the U.K. and Belgium, and we 
know it is active in Turkey. Giving the best technologies and tools to 
our partner countries and working on counterintelligence is very 
important. Having trained U.S. law enforcement officials working with 
our partner airports is important for U.S. travelers, U.S. businesses, 
international commerce, and for travel and the airline industry in 
general. The fact that customs agents can conduct interviews, capture 
biometrics, and conduct behavioral analysis before travelers come to 
the United States of America helps improve the security of our system.
  Customs and Border Patrol has announced they want to increase the 
number of these preclearance-screened travelers by a considerable 
percent by 2024. This will help us protect the ever-growing traveling 
population--and know that we are doing a better job before people reach 
the shores of the United States.
  We know with a U.S. law enforcement presence overseas that we will 
increase security. Customs and Border Patrol turned away nearly 10,000 
people seeking admission to the United States. That is 29 people per 
day. I am not saying all of these people were terrorists. Some had 
expired documents or otherwise inadmissible information, but the key 
fact is that preclearance worked. It worked in helping to prevent 
people that should not have been here from coming to the United States.
  Existing U.S. Customs and preclearance operations have stopped some 
suspected terrorists from reaching our country, and that is why we are 
so glad we passed this legislation and hope that it will be moved 
throughout the process to the President's desk and quickly signed.
  I also want to thank all of our colleagues and the managers of the 
legislation for including this in the bill. I thank all those who work 
at our U.S. border and U.S. Customs and Border Protection--like the 
person at the Washington State border who helped catch the Millennium 
Bomber, Ahmed Ressam, before he could harm Americans.
  I again thank the Senator from Maine for her constant work with me on 
this issue and for her focus on U.S. security. She and I know this job 
is not done. She and I would go even further in this effort, but we are 
at least glad we are expanding our border controls to these overseas 
airports, making U.S. travel safer and protecting people by not letting 
people come to the United States who pose a security threat.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine.
  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, it is a great pleasure to join the 
Senator from Washington State, Ms. Cantwell, in discussing some very 
important provisions that were included in the Customs conference 
report that the Senate acted on earlier this afternoon.
  As Senators representing border States, we are particularly attuned 
to the security and economic consequences of our border security 
policies. When it comes to travel, our country's goals should be to let 
our friends in and to keep our enemies out. As the Senator from 
Washington so eloquently described, the best way for us to do that is 
to push out our borders.
  Today, approximately 15 percent of travelers boarding an airplane 
destined for the United States do so only after fully clearing U.S. 
Customs and immigration inspections at 15 Department of Homeland 
Security preclearance facilities located in foreign airports. That is a 
start, but it doesn't go far enough. If we truly want to enhance our 
security, we need to advance the use of preclearance facilities in 
other foreign airports, and that is exactly what the Senator from 
Washington and I would do and what the Senate voted to do today. As 
Senator Cantwell has described, it is something that we have long 
worked on together as a team for many years, and I am very pleased with 
the progress we can point to today.
  Now, let me just briefly explain how preclearance works. Under the 
preclearance program, we station U.S. law enforcement officials 
overseas at foreign airports. There they can screen passengers at the 
point of departure to the United States rather than waiting for the 
passengers to arrive in the United States. Well, that makes all the 
sense in the world. It helps to prevent someone--a terrorist--from 
smuggling a bomb onto a plane. It helps make the no-fly list more 
effective. It helps Federal law enforcement to do a scan of other 
terrorist databases to see if a passenger is listed.
  In addition, the unique biometric information of each passenger is 
also collected before the flight departs to our country rather than 
after it has arrived. Again, it is this concept of pushing back our 
borders so that more screening is done overseas. We are doing this more 
with cargo, also, that is shipped on those cargo ships coming into our 
ports. It makes all the sense in the world. The security feature is 
particularly important because biometric information is so much more 
difficult to fake than biographic information such as the name or a 
date of birth, which can easily, regrettably, be falsified. As a result 
of the preclearance operations, threats to aviation security and to our 
country and its people can be identified at the earliest opportunity.
  Accelerating the expansion of preclearance operations incurs minimal 
costs and great benefits. Instead, new preclearance operations overseas 
are often paid for by the foreign airport authorities in exchange for 
the opportunity to offer passengers an improved travel experience 
returning home.
  Think of it, I say to my colleagues. When we come back from a long 
overseas flight and then we see that long line to go through Customs 
and immigration, wouldn't we rather do that on the front end of the 
flight when we are fresher and before that long flight

[[Page S858]]

home? This is advantageous for our foreign visitors, as well as 
increasing our security.
  The conference report passed by the Senate today thus represents an 
important step forward in strengthening our security. It will help to 
strengthen the security of travel to the United States. It does not 
represent our entire bill.
  The Cantwell-Collins bill also has enhanced information sharing 
between the United States and Europe regarding the identities of 
suspected terrorists. If our intelligence community can provide more 
information to European border authorities and they can use it in the 
screening of the more than 1 million migrants that are arriving in 
Europe, we simultaneously improve the security of Europe and of the 
United States.
  The continued threat posed to aviation from terrorist groups like Al 
Qaeda, like ISIS, and so many others demands that we take immediate 
steps to improve our security, keeping our borders and our aviation 
industry safe but, most of all, keeping the American people safe. 
Today's vote on the Customs bill conference report is a significant 
step in the right direction.
  I want to acknowledge the work of the Committee on Homeland Security 
and Governmental Affairs, which is headed by our colleague Senator Ron 
Johnson, as well as the Department of Homeland Security, headed by 
Secretary Jeh Johnson. Both of them have also worked hard on the 
preclearance issue.
  I hope that our colleagues will join Senator Cantwell and me as we 
continue the work we have been doing for the past 5 years on this 
issue. It is so important. As border State Senators, I think we are 
particularly sensitive to the fact that we want tourists, we want 
trade, we want people to come into this country, but we do not want lax 
border security to allow those who would do us harm to be able to enter 
this country.
  Let me end where I began. Our goal is to keep our enemies out and 
invite our friends in when it comes to travel. I want to commend 
Senator Cantwell for her longstanding leadership on this issue. It has 
been a pleasure to work with her.
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. COATS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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