[Senate Report 116-267]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                       Calendar No. 530


116th Congress   }                                           {    Report
                                  SENATE                          
2nd Session      }                                           {   116-267
_______________________________________________________________________

                                     

                                                       

                      SECURING AMERICA'S PORTS ACT

                               __________

                              R E P O R T

                                 of the

                   COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND

                          GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                              to accompany

                               H.R. 5273

            TO REQUIRE THE SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY TO
          DEVELOP A PLAN TO INCREASE TO 100 PERCENT THE RATES
            OF SCANNING OF COMMERCIAL AND PASSENGER VEHICLES
           ENTERING THE UNITED STATES AT LAND PORTS OF ENTRY
                   ALONG THE BORDER USING LARGE-SCALE
 NON-INTRUSIVE INSPECTION SYSTEMS TO ENHANCE BORDER SECURITY, AND FOR 
                             OTHER PURPOSES
                             





               September 9, 2020.--Ordered to be printed
               
               
                           ______

             U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 
99-010               WASHINGTON : 2020 
 
               
               
               
               
        COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

                    RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin Chairman
ROB PORTMAN, Ohio                    GARY C. PETERS, Michigan
RAND PAUL, Kentucky                  THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware
JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma             MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire
MITT ROMNEY, Utah                    KAMALA D. HARRIS, California
RICK SCOTT, Florida                  KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona
MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming             JACKY ROSEN, Nevada
JOSH HAWLEY, Missouri

                Gabrielle D'Adamo Singer, Staff Director
                   Joseph C. Folio III, Chief Counsel
                 Caroline K. Bender, Research Assistant
               David M. Weinberg, Minority Staff Director
               Zachary I. Schram, Minority Chief Counsel
         Samuel Rodarte Jr., Minority Professional Staff Member
                     Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk



                                                       Calendar No. 530
                                                       
116th Congress  }                                              {   Report
                                 SENATE
 2nd Session    }                                              {  116-267

======================================================================



 
                      SECURING AMERICA'S PORTS ACT

                                _______
                                

               September 9, 2020.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

 Mr. Johnson, from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
                    Affairs, submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                        [To accompany H.R. 5273]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (H.R. 5273) to require 
the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop a plan to 
increase to 100 percent the rates of scanning of commercial and 
passenger vehicles entering the United States at land ports of 
entry along the border using large-scale, non-intrusive 
inspection systems to enhance border security, and for other 
purposes, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon 
with an amendment in the nature of a substitute and an 
amendment to the title and recommends that the bill, as 
amended, do pass.

                                CONTENTS

                                                                   Page
  I. Purpose and Summary..............................................1
 II. Background and Need for the Legislation..........................2
III. Legislative History..............................................3
 IV. Section-by-Section Analysis......................................4
  V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact..................................4
 VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate........................5
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Act, as Reported.............6

                         I. Purpose and Summary

    The purpose of H.R. 5273, the Securing America's Ports Act, 
is to enhance border security by increasing the rate of high 
throughput scanning for commercial and passenger vehicles and 
freight rail traffic entering the United States. Specifically, 
the Act requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS or 
the Department) to, within 180 days of enactment, submit to 
Congress a plan for achieving 100 percent scanning rates. The 
Act requires the Department to utilize large-scale non-
intrusive inspection (NII) technology such as X-ray, gamma-ray, 
or passive systems.
    The Department's plan is to include the baseline 
information on the large-scale NII systems or similar 
technologies operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
(CBP) at ports of entry and rail crossings, including but not 
limited to, an inventory of large-scale NII, the location of 
each system, and percentage of commercial and passenger 
vehicles and freight rail traffic scanned by each system. The 
plan is also to include benchmarks for achieving progress 
toward 100 percent scanning using NII over the six years 
following the Act's enactment, the estimated costs, and 
projected impacts on the volume of traffic and personnel needs. 
Within one year of the enactment of this Act, and biennially 
thereafter for six years, DHS is to submit a report to Congress 
on the progress made in implementing the plan to achieve 100 
percent scanning.

              II. Background and the Need for Legislation

    CBP uses large-scale NII systems to scan for contraband and 
illicit materials without having to physically inspect a rail 
car or vehicle.\1\ During fiscal year 2019, with the use of 320 
large-scale NII systems, CBP made over 3,000 seizures, an 
increase of 21 percent from fiscal year 2018.\2\ According to 
CBP, this was a result of scanning approximately 15 percent of 
commercial cargo and only one percent of vehicles arriving at 
land ports of entry.\3\ CBP enforcement data shows that larger 
quantities of illicit drugs seized by CBP are encountered at 
ports of entry.\4\ Therefore, increasing the percentage of CBP 
inspections using large-scale NII systems, rather than manual 
screening processes, will result in a larger amount of illicit 
materials seized at ports of entry.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec., U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
Budget Trade and Travel Report: Fiscal year 2019 (Jan. 2020), https://
www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2020-Jan/
CBP%20FY2019%20Trade%20and%20Travel%20Report.pdf.
    \2\Id.
    \3\Id.
    \4\U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec., U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 
CBP Enforcement Statistics Fiscal Year 2020, https://www.cbp.gov/
newsroom/stats/cbp-enforcement-statistics.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In 2018, the then-Commissioner of CBP Kevin McAleenan 
testified that CBP ``will continue to adapt our deployment of 
NII systems so that we can work smarter and faster in detecting 
contraband, while expediting legitimate trade and travel''.\5\ 
DHS has repeatedly touted the success of NII systems and 
recently prioritized increasing NII scanning rates.\6\ In March 
2020, DHS Acting Secretary Chad Wolf pointed to NII as the path 
forward for DHS to increase inspection rates, saying that the 
funding Congress has appropriated thus far for NII will help 
DHS increase their rates of inspection to 40 percent for 
passenger vehicles and 72 percent for commercial vehicles by 
2023.\7\ Furthermore, in the Department's fiscal year 2021 
budget request, DHS stated that they plan to continue using 
prior year funding during fiscal year 2021 to deploy procured 
large-scale NII systems.\8\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\Trade and Commerce at U.S. Ports of Entry: Hearing Before the S. 
Comm. on Finance (2018) (testimony of Kevin McAleenan, Commissioner, 
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec.), 
available at https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/18JUL2018 
McAleenanSTMNT.pdf.
    \6\Id at 1.
    \7\Resources and Authorities Needed to Protect and Secure the 
Homeland: Hearing Before the S. Comm. on Homeland Sec. and Governmental 
Affairs, 116th Cong. (2020), available at https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/
resources-and-authorities-needed-to-protect-and-secure-the-homeland.
    \8\U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec., U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
Budget Overview: FiscalYear2021, https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/
files/publications/u.s._customs_and_border_ protection.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The SAFE Ports Act of 2006 required DHS to ensure that 100 
percent of cargo containers arriving at U.S. seaports undergo 
screening for risk and further, that those which are identified 
as high risk undergo 100 percent scanning.\9\ In this same 
spirit, this Act encourages DHS to increase the rate of 
scanning for commercial and passenger vehicles and freight rail 
cargo entering the United States.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \9\Security and Accountability for Every Port Act of 2006, Pub. L. 
No. 109-347, 120 Stat. 1884 (2006), available at https://
www.congress.gov/109/plaws/publ347/PLAW-109publ347.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In an August 2019 report, the Government Accountability 
Office found that CBP could improve its performance by 
``establishing an ambitious and realistic target for its major 
violations interception rate.''\10\ By requiring DHS to 
formulate a plan for achieving 100 percent scanning rates and 
periodically reporting to Congress on their progress, H.R. 5273 
will effectively mandate that the agency evaluates its scanning 
capabilities and identify current deficiencies in its screening 
processes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \10\U.S. Gov't Accountability Off., GAO-19-658, Land Ports of 
Entry: CBP Should Update Policies and Enhance Analysis of Inspections 
(Aug. 2019), available at https://www.gao.gov/assets/710/700758.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    H.R. 5273 requires DHS to evaluate the large-scale NII 
systems they deploy on how they interact with current methods 
of scanning, such as canines and human intelligence. 
Additionally, the Act requires DHS to understand the costs 
associated with each system, including how the deployment of 
this technology impacts staffing, traffic flow, and 
infrastructure needs.

                        III. Legislative History

    Representative Xochitl Torres Small (D-NM) introduced H.R. 
5273 on November 26, 2019. The House of Representatives passed 
the Act under suspension of the rules by voice vote on February 
10, 2020. The Act was referred to the Committee on Homeland 
Security and Governmental Affairs.
    The Committee considered H.R. 5273 at a business meeting on 
March 11, 2020. Chairman Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Senator Kyrsten 
Sinema (D-AZ) offered a modified substitute amendment that 
included freight rail cargo in CBP's plan for achieving 100 
percent scanning rates and removed the research and development 
mandate. The amendment also reduced the required number of 
reports and re-defined large-scale non-intrusive inspection to 
include passive technology. Chairman Johnson offered Johnson 
amendment 2 to change the long title of the bill to include 
freight rail.
    Both amendments were adopted en bloc by voice vote and the 
Act, as amended, was reported favorably en bloc. Senators 
Johnson, Portman, Lankford, Romney, Scott, Enzi, Hawley, 
Peters, Carper, Hassan, Harris, Sinema, and Rosen were present 
for the votes.

        IV. Section-by-Section Analysis of the Act, as Reported


Section 1. Short title

    This section establishes the short title of the Act as the 
``Securing America's Ports Act.''

Section 2. Large-scale non-intrusive inspection scanning plan

    Subsection (a) defines ``large-scale, non-intrusive 
inspection systems,'' to include x-ray, gamma-ray, and passive 
imaging systems that are able to produce images of the contents 
in a vehicle or rail car in one pass. The term ``scanning'' is 
defined as the utilization of nonintrusive imaging equipment, 
radiation detection equipment, or both, to capture data and 
images of vehicles and rail cars.
    Subsection (b) requires the Secretary of Homeland Security 
to submit to Congress, within 180 days of enactment of this 
Act, a plan for increasing to 100 percent the rate of scanning 
for commercial and passenger vehicles and fright rail cargo 
entering the United States. This scanning is to utilize large-
scale non-intrusive inspection systems.
    Subsection (c) describes the baseline information to be 
included in the plan, including but not limited to, an 
inventory of large-scale NII system or similar technology in 
use and the continued use of other means of scanning. 
Additionally, for each large-scale NII system identified in the 
inventory, the plan must include the scanning method of the 
system, the location where the technology is in use at ports of 
entry, percentages of traffic scanned, seizure data, and the 
number of personnel required to operate the technology.
    Subsection (d) specifies which elements must be included in 
the plan submitted to Congress, including the benchmarks for 
achieving within the next six years 100 percent high-throughput 
scanning of commercial and passenger vehicles and freight rail 
traffic, the estimated costs, and projected impacts on the 
volume of traffic and personnel needs.
    Subsection (e) requires the Secretary of Homeland Security 
to submit a report to Congress on the progress made in 
implementing the plan to achieve 100 percent scanning. The 
first report is to be submitted within a year of enactment with 
bi-annual reports for the following six years. These reports 
must include the inventory of large-scale, nonintrusive 
inspection systems, details on each system, volume of traffic 
being scanned, progress towards meeting the benchmarks, updates 
on costs and any realized impacts or challenges in implementing 
the plan.

                   V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact

    Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule 
XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has 
considered the regulatory impact of this Act and determined 
that the Act will have no regulatory impact within the meaning 
of the rules. The Committee agrees with the Congressional 
Budget Office's statement that the Act contains no 
intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the 
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would impose no costs 
on state, local, or tribal governments.

             VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate

                                     U.S. Congress,
                               Congressional Budget Office,
                                   Washington, DC, August 18, 2020.
Hon. Ron Johnson,
Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs,
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
    Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has 
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 5273, the Securing 
America's Ports Act.
    If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be 
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Jon Sperl.
            Sincerely,
                                         Phillip L. Swagel,
                                                          Director.
    Enclosure.

    
    

    At land ports of entry to the United States, Customs and 
Border Protection (CBP) uses scanning technology capable of 
producing an image of the contents of commercial and passenger 
vehicles as they pass through inspection areas. Those systems, 
known as large-scale nonintrusive inspection (LS NII) systems, 
allow for scanning of higher volumes of vehicles and cargo 
compared to physical inspection. In 2020, the Congress 
appropriated $59 million for CBP to procure and deploy such 
systems.
    H.R. 5273 would require CBP to produce a plan to increase 
the use of LS NII systems to 100 percent at land ports of 
entry.\1\ The plan would include benchmarks for measuring 
scanning rates and estimates of costs to acquire, operate, and 
maintain those systems. The act would require CBP to report 
annually to the Congress on its progress in implementing the 
plan.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\At land ports of entry to the United States, CBP currently scans 
approximately 1 percent to 2 percent of passenger vehicles and 15 
percent to 17 percent of commercial trucks with nonintrusive inspection 
systems. The bulk of scanning efforts are focused at ports of entry 
along the southern border where the volume of vehicle traffic is 
considerably higher than along the northern border.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Using information provided by CBP, CBO estimates that the 
agency would spend about $300,000 on staffing and contract 
costs in 2021 to produce the required plan and an additional 
$100,000 a year after 2021 to conduct analyses of system 
deployment and to report annually to the Congress. The costs of 
the legislation fall under budget function 750 (administration 
of justice).
    Although H.R. 5273 would require CBP to produce a plan to 
scan 100 percent of vehicles crossing U.S. borders, the act 
would not require the agency to meet that standard. 
Accordingly, this estimate does not include the costs to 
procure and deploy the necessary scanning systems.
    Using information provided by the agency, CBO expects that 
under current law scanning rates for vehicles crossing the 
southern border will reach 100 percent for both passenger and 
commercial vehicles near the end of the decade if the Congress 
continues to provide appropriations at the current level. 
However, CBO expects that appropriations at that annual level 
would not be sufficient to achieve full scanning at the 
northern border until sometime after 2030.
    On August 18, 2020, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for 
H.R. 5273, the Securing America's Ports Act, as passed by the 
House of Representatives on February 10, 2020. The two versions 
of the legislation are similar but the House version would 
require CBP to conduct research and development on LS NII 
systems. CBO's cost estimates for the two versions reflect that 
difference--about $6 million in discretionary costs over the 
2021-2025 period.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jon Sperl. The 
estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director 
of Budget Analysis.

       VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Act, as Reported

    Because this legislation would not repeal or amend any 
provision of current law, it would not make changes in existing 
law within the meaning of clauses (a) and (b) of paragraph 12 
of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate.