by Nelson Balido

January 26, 2012

With fights over everything from health care to foreign policy to transcontinental pipelines, folks in Washington aren't agreeing on much these days. And those are just the disagreements between the parties. Tune in to a Republican presidential primary debate and you're likely to see more sparks fly than you would on the House floor.

And though the president's State of the Union speech this week was an aggressive and bold look at the future, we must focus on what needs to be accomplished right away. Those bold words need to be turned into action by the executive and legislative branches of the federal government.

But every now and then we get a small ray of bipartisanship in the daily squabbles, allowing everyone to find a small piece of common ground. We might be seeing such a case in the transportation arena.

Word out of Washington is that the House will soon take up its version of a long-term transportation funding bill. Having closed out 2011 with an unclear picture of a way forward on transportation, this comes as welcome news for border communities and trade advocates as we seek to preserve the Coordinated Border Infrastructure program, which we believe should be included in any transportation package. CBI dollars drawn down by border state departments of transportation are used to fund infrastructure projects that are critical to trade facilitation.

Last month, more than 110 House Republicans and Democrats signed on to a letter to President Obama urging his support for a transportation bill. With the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee having passed its version of the bill in November, it looks like we're getting closer to getting a deal done.

But as with anything of this scale, there are still significant challenges on the road ahead. Both the Senate and House must come up with significant funding streams (or big cuts) to make their proposals work. The Senate has to find $12 billion to make its two-year plan work, while the House would likely need to find over $70 billion to fund its five-year plan. Considering how tight the federal budget is, those dollars won't be easy to come by.

And the Border Trade Alliance has serious concerns with the way the CBI program is treated under the Senate version of the bill. CBI is preserved, but without the mandates on border state DOTs to spend the dollars in the border region. We're working hard to ensure that CBI dollars stay in the border region.

There are some bright spots, however. Under the Senate version, CBI dollars could be spent on freight rail infrastructure, something that is not possible under the current incarnation of the program.

The BTA joined a coalition of business groups led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that recently wrote to the House and Senate calling for the passage of a transportation bill before the current law expires March 31.

In the letter, we write that "…the economic opportunities that a well-crafted measure could afford and emerging political consensus for advancing such an effort, we believe it is time for all involved parties to come together and craft a final product."

When I speak in Washington D.C. or in communities along our nation's borders, whether it is one-on-one or in a group setting, my message remains the same: There is no greater or faster return on infrastructure investment than that offered by our land ports of entry on both borders.  

The horrendous wait times of people waiting to deliver goods and services through commercial lanes or travelers in line for hours waiting to visit our country and spend money must be alleviated one way or another.   

Not every issue in Washington has to get bogged down partisan bickering. There's enough goodwill surrounding the need and desire to upgrade the nation's – and the border region's – aging infrastructure to make significant progress. Here's hoping Congress and the White House don't miss this opportunity.

Nelson Balido is the president of the Border Trade Alliance

”There has been no improvement over the past few years,” said Steve Ortega, an El Paso city council representative.

Recently Ortega joined the thousands of people lined up at the border in El Paso waiting to enter the U.S. to shop, work, or visit relatives. He’s gone on two separate Tuesdays, the day city council meets.

This past Tuesday it took Ortega 6 minutes to walk across the bridge.Pedestrians from Mexico often walk across to shop downtown.

But on his first try in December when Ortega drove accross the Bridge of the Americas, he waited in line an hour and a half.  The average time spent waiting at the border is two hours, according to Nelson Balido,President of  the Border Trade Alliance, which promotes trade and cross border commerce.

“It’s trillions of dollars on an annual basis to the bottom line of the United States," said Balido.

Customs and Border Protection officers inspect vehicles and people at ports of entry before they are allowed into the U.S. They're checking documents and searching for contraband and possible threats.
 
Critics argue staffing and have not kept pace with the demands of balancing security needs and burgeoning growth at the border.

“There has been almost zero funding for port infrastructure. There was just a very small number of CBP officers authorized,” said Balido.

And while the number of border patrol agents has tripled in recent years, Balido and others point out CBP staffing has lagged far behind. Congress sets funding for the agency and this past year authorized 250 new officers for border crossings including 70 new positions for El Paso.

“We’re having more CBP officers retire than what we’re hiring and that’s absolutely unacceptable,” said Balido.
 
Companies that are members of the Border Trade Alliance explored the idea of funding extra staff to reduce delays at border crossings, but the private public partnership did not materialize.

“There’s no mechanism to take those dollars,” said Balido.

Trade advocates say reducing delays at the border translates into economic benefits for border communities and beyond.

“Its an immediate return on investment, whether that person is crossing the border to spend money at a local retail store or whether a part or microchip (coming across the border) is going into a computer," said Balido.

According to "Realizing the Full Value of Trade with Mexico," a 2010 study by Arizona State University, “Poor infrastructure, inadequate staff levels and heavy focus on security at the US-Mexico border cost both countries millions in gross output annually.”

CBP has installed technology to help move secure cargo more quickly and recently added passport card readers to the pedestrian lines in a pilot program in El Paso that allows officers to see the person’s identifying information before he or she approaches the front of the line to speed up the inspection process.    

Even so, frustration is building over delays at border crossings. The City of El Paso is considering legal action against the federal government for the environmental damage caused by air pollution from thousands of cars idling at bridges waiting to enter the U.S. The federal government however i is typically immune from such lawsuits. 

City Council member Ortega plans to get in those long lines two more Tuesdays to track wait times and draw attention to the plight residents face daily along the 2000 mile southwest border.

“This is an attempt at exposure, a desperate attempt to be honest about this,” said Ortega.

This column originally appeared in the Dec. 27 edition of Security Debrief.

Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin last Thursday announced his resignation effective December 30. For folks who monitor border trade and security issues, this wasn't exactly a surprise. But it was still a disappointment.

In March 2010, President Obama appointed Mr. Bersin CBP commissioner through a recess appointment (when Congress was out of session). This was a case of the president having grown tired of the Senate Finance Committee's failure to do its job and act on the president's formal nomination of Mr. Bersin to lead an agency that is critical to the country's security and economic health.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus convened his committee in May 2010 to consider the Bersin nomination. Unfortunately, very little of the hearing focused on Mr. Bersin's qualifications and the pressing need to confirm the president's nomination for an agency that, as Sen. Baucus said in his opening remarks, "is the face of America."

Instead, the hearing was distracted by issues having to do with the employment eligibility of Mr. Bersin's domestic help. There was no discussion of how CBP is engaging the rest of the world, what the agency is doing to boost trade or what innovative strategies might be employed to strengthen border security. Following the committee's discussion of Mr. Bersin's hiring practices, it adjourned without acting on the nomination.

And so Mr. Bersin continued in his position without Senate confirmation. But he didn't let the lack of confirmation impede his progress in leading CBP. He led his agency with a steadfast commitment to facilitating legitimate trade and travel while keeping our country safe from outside threats. Mr. Bersin should feel very proud of his accomplishments at CBP, including his unprecedented engagement of the private sector.

While I'm disappointed that Mr. Bersin didn't get a chance to continue as commissioner, it would not be accurate to say that the trade community is saddled with a consolation prize. It's just the opposite.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano made the right choice in naming deputy commissioner David Aguilar as the new acting commissioner and Tom Winkowski, who currently heads CBP's field operations, as the acting deputy commissioner. I've found both gentlemen to be extremely willing to work with the trade community to develop creative ways to facilitate the passage of legitimate trade and travel while enhancing border security.

Mr. Aguilar knows border security. As the former chief of the Border Patrol, he is clearly aware of the challenges facing the vast areas between our ports of entry. But I've been impressed by his desire to fully understand how vital trade is to our nation's economy and how critically important well-staffed and equipped ports of entry are to trade and travel facilitation and in the interdiction of drugs and other contraband.

There's something wrong with a process that allows a presidential appointee tapped to lead an agency as critical as CBP to twist in the wind while the Senate dickers. That presidential appointments have been turned into political footballs is an unfortunate example of how paralyzed Washington has become by hyper-partisanship.

But border communities are going to be well served by Mr. Aguilar and Mr. Winkowski. CBP shouldn't miss a beat in this transition.

Nelson Balido is the president of the Border Trade Alliance