Border Trade Alliance

The Border Trade Alliance (BTA) today announced its strong support for the PORTS Act, H.R. 5622, recently introduced by Congressman Silvestre Reyes (D-TX). The PORTS (Putting Our Resources Toward Security) Act authorizes significant increases in funding for security personnel and infrastructure at all U.S. land ports of entry in order to meet the critical national priority of facilitating the secure and efficient movement of people and goods.

The BTA strongly supports the PORTS Act as it highlights the important resource needs at our nation’s border crossings. Recently, Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) identified the need for $5 billion in infrastructural upgrades at U.S. ports to modernize land port facilities and reduce delays. The BTA is urging Congress to swiftly adopt H.R. 5662 and provide the appropriations necessary to fully fund the levels authorized by the legislation.

Funding priorities included in H.R. 5662 include:

• Authorization for an increase of 5,000 CBP Officers at our land border crossings, an increase of 30 percent over five years, which will provide adequate personnel to fully staff all U.S. land, sea and air ports of entry.
• Authorizes the hiring of 350 support personnel and 1,200 agriculture specialists at CBP to ensure that the agency’s security officers can concentrate on their inspection mission rather than specialized or administrative duties.
• Authorizes $5 billion over five years for the General Services Administration to complete port infrastructure upgrades necessary to address the over-burdened infrastructure at our nation’s ports.

Last year the BTA began a successful grass-roots campaign to raise awareness about the growing concern of increased wait-times experienced at our nation’s ports of entry. Most recently, the BTA hosted an International Conference entitled, “Understanding Wait-Times, Border Delays’ Impact on Trade, which featured discussion on the issue of border wait-times by many prominent leaders in Congress and the federal government, including Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez, General Services Administrator Lurita Doan, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), Congressman Silvestre Reyes, and Congressman Bob Filner (D-CA).

Since 1986, BTA has served as a grassroots, non-profit organization that provides a forum for discussion and advocacy on issues pertaining to the environment, border development, quality of life and trade in the Americas. BTA is a leader and authority on international trade and commerce throughout North America. A network of public and private sector representatives from the United States, Mexico and Canada, its core values include a commitment to improving the quality of life in border communities through trade and commerce and a commitment to work as a community-based grassroots organization.

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