[Senate Report 116-94]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 198
116th Congress } { Report
SENATE
1st Session } { 116-94
_______________________________________________________________________
PROTECTING AMERICA'S FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ACT OF 2019
__________
R E P O R T
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
TO ACCOMPANY
S. 2107
TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF CBP AGRICULTURE SPECIALISTS
AND SUPPORT STAFF IN THE OFFICE OF FIELD OPRATIONS
OF U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
September 10, 2019.--Ordered to be printed
________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
89-010 WASHINGTON: 2019
_____________________________________________________________________________
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
William G. Rhodes III, Fellow
David M. Weinberg, Minority Staff Director
Zachary I. Schram, Minority Chief Counsel
Christopher J. Mulkins, Minority Senior Professional Staff Member
Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
Calendar No. 198
116th Congress } { Report
SENATE
1st Session } { 116-94
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PROTECTING AMERICA'S FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ACT OF 2019
_______
September 10, 2019.--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 S. 2107]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 2107), to increase
the number of CBP Agriculture Specialists and support staff in
the Office of Field Operations of U.S. Customs and Border
Protection, and for other purposes, having considered the same,
reports favorably thereon without amendment and recommends that
the bill 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 Bill, as Reported............6
I. PURPOSE AND SUMMARY
The purpose of S. 2107, the Protecting America's Food &
Agriculture Act of 2019, is to ensure the safe and secure trade
of food and agriculture across our nation's borders by properly
staffing ports of entry with trained agricultural inspection
personnel. This bill authorizes the Commissioner of the U.S.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) under the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) to hire, train and assign 240 new
Agricultural Specialists above attrition levels each year until
the total number is equal to or sustains the staffing
requirements identified in the Agriculture Resource Allocation
Model. The bill also authorizes CBP to hire, train, and assign
200 new Agriculture Technicians every year until the total
number is equal to or sustains the staffing requirements
identified in the Mission and Operational Support Resource
Allocation Model. In addition, CBP may hire, train and assign
20 agriculture canine teams each year for the first three
fiscal years following the enactment of this bill.
The bill also authorizes funding to support the hiring and
training of the specialists, technicians and canine teams. The
bill also requires the Government Accountability Office (GAO)
to provide a report to Congress on the coordination and
effectiveness of inspections by CBP, U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) and other Federal agencies, and the training
and working environment of Agricultural Specialists. The
authorities provided to CBP in this bill sunset at the end of
fiscal year 2022.
II. BACKGROUND AND THE NEED FOR LEGISLATION
The Agricultural Quarantine and Inspection Program (AQI),
which is jointly administered by CBP and USDA's Animal Plant
Health Inspection Service, helps safeguard the U.S.
agriculture, food supply and economy from potentially harmful
or dangerous pests, plants pathogens, invasive plants and agro-
terrorism.\1\ Working at our nation's ports of entry, AQI's
Agricultural Specialists are the nation's first line of defense
against such threats as they carry out inspections of millions
of pounds per year of cut flowers, vegetables, fruit, herbs and
other plants and produce.\2\
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\1\U.S. Gov't Accountability Office, GAO-08-96T, Agricultural
Inspection Program, Management Problems May Increase Vulnerability of
U.S. Agriculture to Foreign Pests and Diseases (2007).
\2\U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Protecting Agriculture,
available at https://www.cbp.gov/border-security/protecting-agriculture
(last visited Aug. 14, 2019).
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CBP processes over 1 million passengers and pedestrians and
over 78,000 truck, rail and sea containers carrying goods worth
$7.2 billion each day.\3\ Each year, these inspections by
Agricultural Specialists result in the interception of tens of
thousands of ``actionable pests''--pests determined by a
scientific risk assessment to be dangerous to the health and
safety of the nation's agriculture supply.\4\ In fiscal year
2018, CBP reported that Agriculture Specialists intercepted 319
pests, and quarantined 4,552 materials, including meat, plant,
animal byproduct and soil.\5\ However, the AQI program is
currently experiencing staffing shortages that, if not
addressed, could weaken the nation's ability to safeguard the
food and agriculture supply.
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\3\U.S. Gov't Accountability Office, GAO-19-263R, U.S. Ports of
Entry: Update on CBP Public-Private Partnership Programs (2019).
\4\U.S. Customs and Border Protection, CBP Agriculture Specialists
at Port Manatee Intercept Rare Pest, First In Florida Discovery,
available at https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-media-release/cbp-
agriculture-specialists-port-manatee-intercept-rare-pest-first
(released on July 3, 2019) (last visited on Aug. 14, 2019).
\5\Id.
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As a result of a 2007 GAO report, the Agricultural Resource
and Allocation Model (AgRam) was developed as a way to better
identify the number of Agricultural Specialists, technicians
and other administrative support staff to adequately support
the mission of the AQI program.\6\ According to CBP, as of
March 2019, the current number of Agricultural Specialists is
2,543--695 below its fiscal year 2019 staffing target
identified by AgRam.\7\ Steady increases in food and
agricultural imports underscore the need to address these
staffing shortages. For instance, imports from all countries
rose from $103 billion in 2012 to $127 billion in 2018.\8\
Moreover, the year over year increase for 2017 to 2018 was a
little over 7 percent, highlighting the need for sufficient
staffing of Agricultural Specialists at ports of entry.\9\
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\6\U.S. Gov't Accountability Office, GAO-12-885, Agricultural
Inspection Program Has Made Some Improvements, but Management
Challenges Persist (2012).
\7\Correspondence between the U.S. Customs and Border Protection
officials and Committee staff (Apr. 15, 2019), (on file with Committee
Staff).
\8\Foreign Agric. Serv., U.S. Imports of *Agricultural Products* FY
2012-2018, U.S. Dep't of Agric. https://apps.fas.usda.gov/Gats/
PrintBicoReport.aspx?&PT=C&MYT=F&EY=2019&EM=05
&EMName=May&RT=P&PC=M1&SY=2012&IP=N&PG=BICO-HS10 (last visited Aug. 1,
2019).
\9\Id.
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Current and continuing threats to U.S. agriculture,
including African swine fever (ASF) and other pests and
diseases, further strengthen the argument for providing CBP
with the resources necessary to sufficiently staff our ports of
entry. Spread of ASF is on the rise around the world and some
fear the disease could eventually affect our nation's pork
supply.\10\ African swine fever is a very contagious and deadly
disease that affects domestic and wild pigs and there is not
vaccine for this disease.\11\ The disease has been found in
sub-Saharan Africa, China, Mongolia, Vietnam and the European
Union. Fortunately, African swine fever has never been found in
the U.S.\12\ Proper surveillance by CBP, canine teams, and USDA
agricultural inspectors, and restricting importation of pork
and pork products are the necessary to keep African swine flu
out of the United States.
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\10\Press Release, U.S. Dep't of Agriculture, USDA Continues to
Prevent African Swine Fever from Entering the U.S. (Mar. 19, 2019),
https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2019/03/19/usda-continues-
prevent-african-swine-fever-entering-us;
\11\Id.
\12\Id.
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Appropriate staffing is necessary to ensure that proper
inspections are conducted. S. 2107 increases staffing levels
for inspector, technician and canine support teams that conduct
agricultural inspections. It also requires a GAO study,
briefing (within one year after enactment of the bill) and
report (90 days after the briefing) that reviews interagency
coordination and effectiveness between USDA and DHS, and
training and working conditions of CBP agricultural staff.
III. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
Ranking Member Gary Peters (D-MI) introduced S. 2107, the
Protecting America's Food and Agricultural Act, on July 11,
2019, with Senators Roberts (R-KS), Cornyn (R-TX) and Stabenow
(D-MI). The bill was referred to the Committee on Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs.
The Committee considered S. 2107 at a business meeting on
July 24, 2019. The bill passed by voice vote en bloc with
Senators Johnson, Portman, Paul, Lankford, Romney, Scott, Enzi,
Hawley, Peters, Carper, Hassan, Sinema, Rosen present.
IV. SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF THE BILL, AS REPORTED
Section 1. Short title
This section establishes the short title of the bill as
the, ``Protecting America's Food and Agriculture Act of 2019.''
Section 2. Finding
This section describes congressional findings that it is in
the nation's national security interest to ensure that the food
supply is protected, and that to do so adequate resources are
needed to conduct agricultural inspections of imports.
Section 3. Definitions
This section provides a definition of ``Appropriate
Congressional Committees'', which includes the Committee's on
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and Agriculture,
Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate, and the Committee's on
Homeland Security and Agriculture in the House of
Representatives.
Section 4. Additional U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel
Subsection (a) authorizes the Commissioner of CBP to hire,
train and assign 240 new CBP Agriculture Specialists at levels
above the attrition rate each year until the staffing targets
identified by the AgRam are met.
Subsection (b) authorizes the Commissioner of CBP to hire,
train and assign 200 new Agriculture Technicians at levels
above the attrition rate each year until the staffing targets
identified by the Mission and Operational Support Resource
Allocation Model are met.
Subsection (c) authorizes the Commissioner of CBP to hire,
train and assign 20 new agriculture canine teams during each of
the first three years following the enactment of this bill.
Subsection (d) requires CBP to ensure that the AgRam
accounts for data regarding the number of inspections conducted
at each port of entry, volume surges, other projected changes
in commercial and passenger volumes, current commercial
forecasts, and other relevant data.
Subsection (e) authorizes funding to be appropriated to
support the hiring activities in subsections (a) through (c) of
this bill for three fiscal years beginning in fiscal year 2020
and ending in fiscal year 2022.
Section 5. GAO study, briefing, and report
This section requires GAO to conduct a review of DHS's and
USDA's interagency coordination efforts, effectiveness of
inspection responsibilities among Federal agencies, and the
training provided to and working conditions of CBP Agricultural
Specialists. GAO is also required to provide a briefing to
appropriate congressional committees no later than one year
following the bill's enactment, and within 90 days of the
briefing, provide a publically available report detailing the
findings of its review.
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 bill and determined
that the bill will have no regulatory impact within the meaning
of the rules. The Committee agrees with the Congressional
Budget Office's statement that the bill 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 6, 2019.
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 S. 2107, the Protecting
America's Food and Agriculture Act of 2019.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Mark
Grabowicz.
Sincerely,
Phillip L. Swagel,
Director.
Enclosure.
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
S. 2107 would authorize the appropriation of specific
amounts for each year over the 2020-2022 period totaling $222
million for Customs and Border Protection. The funds would be
used to hire agriculture specialists and other personnel to
improve the comprehensiveness of inspections of food and
agricultural goods entering the United States. Assuming
appropriation of the authorized amounts, CBO estimates that
implementing the bill would cost $222 million over the 2020-
2024 period. Estimated outlays are based on historical spending
patterns for this program.
The costs of the legislation (detailed in Table 1) fall
within budget function 750 (administration of justice).
TABLE 1.--ESTIMATED INCREASES IN SPENDING SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATION
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By fiscal year, millions of dollars--
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2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2019-2024
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Authorization............................ 0 50 75 97 0 0 222
Estimated Outlays........................ 0 41 70 92 19 0 222
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The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Mark Grabowicz.
The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy
Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
VII. CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED
Because S. 2107 would not repeal or amend any provision of
current law, it would make no 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.