Congress Reaches Deal on Surface Transportation Bill, Partially Funded Through Customs User Fee Increase

Congressional members of the surface transportation bill Conference Committee reached an agreement on a five-year reauthorization, said Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., the chairman of the Conference Committee (here). The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act (here) would fund federal surface transportation programs through fiscal year 2020 and refocus "those programs on addressing national priorities," said a joint statement from the committee (here). Some of the funding for the highway funds will come from an increase in customs user fees, a provision that is considered "disastrous" by the National Treasury Employees Union.

The FAST Act would tie customs user fees to inflation, said the committee. The fees, which aren't currently adjusted for inflation, would "reflect any increase in the average of the Consumer Price Index," it said. If passed, the first such inflationary adjustment would take place April 1. Other funding would come from changes in tax laws.

The NTEU, which previously objected to the use of customs fees for funding not directly related to CBP (see 1510290020), was not pleased by the offset mechanisms. The added revenue created by the indexed user fees should instead be used "for the purposes specified under federal law: border security and trade facilitation," NTEU President Tony Reardon said. The agency urgently needs to move forward with the hiring of 2,700 CBP officers to help with its multiple missions and resolve cargo processing delays, he said. “By failing to resolve this longstanding resource problem, Congress will exacerbate these delays, which will jeopardize our border security and add to our economic worries by slowing down the movement of international commerce and tourism even more,” said Reardon.

Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of NTEU's statement.