[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 104 (Thursday, June 20, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4191-S4192]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 834. Mr. PETERS (for himself and Mr. Cornyn) submitted an
amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 1790, to
authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2020 for military activities
of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for
defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military
personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which
was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. ___. U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION PERSONNEL.
(a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the
``Securing America's Ports of Entry Act of 2019''.
(b) Additional U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Personnel.--
(1) Officers.--The Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border
Protection shall hire, train, and assign not fewer than 600
new Office of Field Operations officers above the current
attrition level during every fiscal year until the total
number of Office of Field Operations officers equals and
sustains the requirements identified each year in the
Workload Staffing Model.
(2) Support staff.--The Commissioner is authorized to hire,
train, and assign support staff, including technicians, to
perform non-law enforcement administrative functions to
support the new Office of Field Operations officers hired
pursuant to paragraph (1).
(3) Traffic forecasts.--In calculating the number of Office
of Field Operations officers needed at each port of entry
through the Workload Staffing Model, the Office of Field
Operations shall--
(A) rely on data collected regarding the inspections and
other activities conducted at each such port of entry; and
(B) consider volume from seasonal surges, other projected
changes in commercial and passenger volumes, the most current
commercial forecasts, and other relevant information.
(4) GAO report.--If the Commissioner does not hire the 600
additional Office of Field Operations officers authorized
under paragraph (1) during fiscal year 2020, or during any
subsequent fiscal year in which the hiring requirements set
forth in the Workload Staffing Model have not been achieved,
the Comptroller General of the United States shall--
(A) conduct a review of U.S. Customs and Border Protection
hiring practices to determine the reasons that such
requirements were not achieved and other issues related to
hiring by U.S. Customs and Border Protection; and
(B) submit a report to the Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on
Homeland Security of the House of Representatives that
describes the results of the review conducted under
subparagraph (A).
(c) Ports of Entry Infrastructure Enhancement Report.--Not
later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this
Act, the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection
shall submit a report to the Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on
Homeland Security of the House of Representatives that
identifies--
(1) infrastructure improvements at ports of entry that
would enhance the ability of Office of Field Operations
officers to interdict opioids and other drugs that are being
illegally transported into the United States, including a
description of circumstances at specific ports of entry that
prevent the deployment of technology used at other ports of
entry;
(2) detection equipment that would improve the ability of
such officers to identify opioids, including precursors and
derivatives, that are being illegally transported into the
United States; and
(3) safety equipment that would protect such officers from
accidental exposure to such drugs or other dangers associated
with the inspection of potential drug traffickers.
(d) Reporting Requirements.--
(1) Temporary duty assignments.--
[[Page S4192]]
(A) Quarterly report.--The Commissioner of U.S. Customs and
Border Protection, in consultation with the Executive
Assistant Commissioner of the Office of Field Operations,
shall submit a quarterly report to the appropriate
congressional committees that includes, for the reporting
period--
(i) the number of temporary duty assignments;
(ii) the number of U.S. Customs and Border Protection
employees required for each temporary duty assignment;
(iii) the ports of entry from which such employees were
reassigned;
(iv) the ports of entry to which such employees were
reassigned;
(v) the ports of entry at which reimbursable service
agreements have been entered into that may be affected by
temporary duty assignments;
(vi) the duration of each temporary duty assignment; and
(vii) the cost of each temporary duty assignment.
(B) Southwest border.--The report required under
subparagraph (A) shall identify, with respect to each of the
statistics described in clauses (i) through (vii) of such
subparagraph, information relating to preventing or
responding to illegal entries along the southwest border of
the United States, including the costs relating to temporary
redeployments along the southwest border.
(C) Notice.--Not later than 10 days before redeploying
employees from 1 port of entry to another, absent emergency
circumstances--
(i) the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection
shall notify the director of the port of entry from which
employees will be reassigned of the intended redeployments;
and
(ii) the port director shall notify impacted facilities
(including airports, seaports, and land ports) of the
intended redeployments.
(D) Staff briefing.--The Commissioner of U.S. Customs and
Border Protection, in consultation with the Assistant
Commissioner of the Office of Field Operations, shall brief
all affected U.S. Customs and Border Protection employees
regarding plans to mitigate vulnerabilities created by any
planned staffing reductions at ports of entry.
(2) Reimbursable services agreements quarterly report.--The
Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection shall
submit a quarterly report to the appropriate congressional
committees regarding the use of reimbursable service
agreements by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which shall
include--
(A) the governmental or private entities with an active
reimbursable service agreement, including the locations at
which the contracted services are being performed;
(B) a description of the factors that were considered
before entering into each of the active reimbursable service
agreements referred to in subparagraph (A);
(C) the number of hours that U.S. Customs and Border
Protection Officers worked during the reporting period in
fulfillment of responsibilities agreed to under each of the
reimbursable service agreements; and
(D) the total costs incurred by U.S. Customs and Border
Protection relating to each reimbursable service agreement,
including the amount of such costs that were reimbursed by
the contracted entity.
(3) Annual workload staffing model report.--As part of the
Annual Report on Staffing required under section 411(g)(5)(A)
of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 211(g)(5)(A)),
the Commissioner shall include--
(A) information concerning the progress made toward meeting
the Office of Field Operations officer and support staff
hiring targets set forth in subsection (b), while accounting
for attrition;
(B) an update to the information provided in the Resource
Optimization at the Ports of Entry report, which was
submitted to Congress on September 12, 2017, pursuant to the
Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2017
(division F of Public Law 115-31); and
(C) a summary of the information included in the quarterly
reports required under paragraphs (1) and (2).
(4) Defined term.--In this subsection, the term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs of the Senate;
(B) the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate;
(C) the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of
Representatives; and
(D) the Committee on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives.
(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized
to be appropriated to carry out this section--
(1) $80,908,929 for fiscal year 2020; and
(2) $97,132,268 for each of the fiscal years 2021 through
2026.
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