US-Border Land Port Congestion
Border Trade Alliance Urges Nominee to Outline Plans to Ensure GSA Addresses Critical Border Ports Infrastructure Upgrades
Washington D.C. - Border Trade Alliance (BTA) strongly urges Ms. Martha N. Johnson, President Obama’s nominee to head the General Services Administration (GSA) to outline her intention to lead GSA in upgrading land border infrastructure during her June 3rd confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Last week, border communities and businesses were shocked by the GSA decision to eliminate their Land Port of Entry Division, the division responsible for U.S. border land ports.
In 2008, U.S. border land ports were responsible for facilitating more than $830 billion in cross-border trade and processed 45.7 million pedestrians, more than 10.7 million trucks and more than 107.5 million personal vehicles. The sustained growth of North American land border trade is limited by overburdened and outdated infrastructure at U.S. land ports, most of which were built forty years ago and not designed to handle the volume of trade or the current security procedures conducted at our borders.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided GSA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) with $720 million for land port infrastructure upgrades. However, the majority of the projects funded by GSA and CBP were at ports of entry with low crossing volumes, continuing the ongoing need for additional federal investment in infrastructure at our nation’s busiest ports.
BTA calls upon Ms. Johnson to respond to the following concerns during her confirmation testimony:
- What steps as Administrator of GSA will you take to ensure that sustained investment in infrastructural upgrades are made to support the more than $830 billion in economic activity handled at our busiest land ports of entry?
- What steps will you take as GSA Administrator to ensure that locally requested projects and projects that enhance trade and travel facilitation are made a priority?
- According to GSA, what is the current infrastructure investment need at our nation’s land ports of entry? Will you work to increase GSA’s focus on delivering upon this significant infrastructure need?
- Border stakeholders are very concerned regarding GSA’s recent decision to eliminate its Land Port of Entry Division. As Administrator, how do you plan to make certain that border stakeholders are able to continue to contact GSA staff regarding land port infrastructure needs? What impact does this internal reorganization have on GSA’s role as landlord at many ports of entry and the agencies focus in support of cross-border trade and commerce?
BTA has maintained a close working relationship with GSA in its role in managing U.S. land ports of entry along the U.S. shared borders with Canada and Mexico. BTA is hopeful that border communities, port operators and advocacy organizations such as BTA can continue to count on GSA as a partner in providing solutions to issues that serve as roadblocks to legitimate trade and commerce at our nation’s land ports of entry. BTA looks forward to hearing Ms. Johnson’s testimony before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on Wednesday June 3, 2009.
Leave a Reply
The BTA reserves the right to post comments it feels are appropriate to creating a dialog around border issues. We are interested in hearing from all points of view and encourage those with unique, constructive perspectives to contribute their view points to help shape the future of our borders. BTA is a tri-national organization and will not accept posts that contain derogatory comments made towards citizens, groups, or organizations of any kind.