CALIBRE OF TODAY'S THIS PROBLEM EXISTS NOT BECAUSE THE COMMERCE. THE PROBLEM LIES NOT WITH THE LINE PERSONNEL BUT WITH THE MANAGEMENT POLICIES OF THE AGENCY ITSELF. ENTRY CLEARANCE INCREASED. DELAYS AND CLASSIFICATION ERRORS HAVE I BELIEVE THESE PROBLEMS ARE LARGELY ATTRIBUTABLE ΤΟ THE FACT THAT INSPECTORS AND IMPORT SPECIALISTS HAVE LESS TIME TO BECOME FAMILIAR WITH THEIR ASSIGNED PRODUCT LINES AND TO MAINTAIN CLOSE CONTACT WITH PEOPLE IN THE IMPRT EXPORT BUSINESS. AUTOMATION WHICH WAS DESIGNED TO STREAMLINE MERCHANDISE PROCESSING HAS TENDED TO AGGRAVATE THE PROBLEMS. IN FACT, INSPECTION MR. CHAIRMAN, I KNOW YOU HAVE PLACED TRADE LAW REFORM ON THE TOP OF YOUR LEGISLATIVE AGENDA. I SHARE THAT PRIORITY, BUT ANY ATTEMPTS TO OVERHAUL OUR TRADE LAWS WILL BE MEANINGLESS UNLESS WE ARE PREPARED AND COMMITTED TO ENFORCE THEM. CUSTOMS IS THE BACKBONE BEHIND OUR IF WE ARE SERIOUS IN OUR ATTEMPTS TO ADDRESS THE TRADE PROBLEM ENGULFING THIS COUNTRY, THEN CONGRESS WILL REJECT THE PRESIDENT'S POSITIONS. RECOMMENDATIONS TO ELIMINATE THE 2,000 THANK YOU, MR. CHAIRMAN, FOR THE OPPORUTNITY ΤΟ APPEAR BEFORE THIS COMMITTEE. STATEMENT OF HON. RONALD D. COLEMAN, U.S. Congressman COLEMAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the opportunity also to testify, and I have submitted for the record my entire testimony. I would only summarize, Mr. Chairman, I am a member of the House Appropriations Committee and the subcommittee on Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government. I am completely convinced that the Customs Service has, perhaps, the broadest job description of any agency in the Federal Government. In addition to administering and enforcing the Tariff Act of 1930, the Customs Service is responsible for enforcing statutes to protect domestic agriculture, business, and public health. It is charged with enforcing motor vehicle regulations, such as the Motor Carrier Safety Act of 1984, and radiation and radioactive material standards. Not the least important, the Customs Service is charged with the primary responsibility of enforcing our drug enforcement statutes, right along the border-something that I am convinced that Congress is strongly committed to doing. Given this broad array of duties as defined in the Custom Service's mission, we are once again faced with a devastating budget request from this Administration. Unfortunately, the Commissioner of Customs, Commissioner Von Raab, must come up here to the Hill and defend a budget of which he must say, "we are going to do more with less". Mr. Chairman, I do not believe that is feasible. I want to review the Administration's record, for the record of this committee, on their past budget requests, since I have, served in Congress. For Fiscal Year 1984, the Administration requested a cut of 1,775 positions below the Fiscal Year 1983 levels. The Congress approved a cut of 200 positions in the final analysis. For Fiscal Year 1985, the Administration requested a cut of 923 additional positions. The Congress, that year, froze the number of personnel at a total of 13,418 positions. For Fiscal Year 1986, the Administration requested a cut of 800 positions. The Congress rejected that cut, and instead added 623 positions over the Fiscal Year 1985 amount, which brought us up to a level of 14,041 Customs Service personnel. For Fiscal Year 1987, the Administration proposed a cut of 1,547 positions by sustaining the Gramm-Rudman cut of 700 positions and cutting an additional 800. The Congress added back the funds that were cut as a result of the Gramm-Rudman requirements, and we rejected the Fiscal Year 1987 cut requested by the Administration. Instead, we added 850 positions above the fiscal year 1986 appropriation, bringing us to a total of 14,891 positions. An additional 150 positions were added in the omnibus drug bill. The Administration's fiscal year 1988 budget request has proposed a rescission at the outset of $39 million, and the absorption of $21.6 million in pay and retirement costs, which would result in a cut, once again, of 1,485 personnel in Fiscal Year 1987. For Fiscal Year 1988, the Administration proposes to cut an additional 513 positions. This would result in a total of about 13,039 av erage positions in the Customs Service. In other words, we are backing up, Mr. Chairman, with this request. Between 1979 and 1986, the level of Customs Service personnel has remained constant at approximately 14,000 full-time employees. The number of import specialists has fallen by 309 positions. The number of inspectors has remained constant at approximately 4,300 positions. Of course, over this same period of time, from 1979 through 1986, demand has increased, as we all know. Those of us that represent districts as I do, along the U.S.-Mexico border, or those who represent areas where import requirements are high with travelers, such as in your state, are aware of this increase in demand. I would suggest that the number of imports processed by the Customs Service, through their own statistics, have increased by some 56 percent. The Administration's own budget assumes that the number of carriers of foreign persons and merchandise entering the U.S. will increase by at least 5 percent in Fiscal Year 1988. And the number of foreign persons entering and requiring some attention will increase by 2 percent. Congress appropriated funds to provide for 102 additional import specialists and 344 inspector positions for Fiscal Year 1987. Yet, the Administration wants to eliminate these positions. At the same time, the Administration claims to make a commitment to the war on drugs. The President and the First Lady have appeared on national television; and the Congress last year, committed vast resources to combat this scourge on society. Yet, with this budget, I submit to you that this Administration is seeking to undo, once again, the work of Congress. The President's rescission will result, as I pointed out before, in a cut of 1,485 Customs personnel. At current levels, the Customs Service inspects two out of every 100 containers entering our nation. Additional cuts in manpower, it seems to me, will only exacerbate this vast leakage which occurs at any case. If the President's budget is approved, the total number of Customs personnel would be below the 14,000 average that we have had over the last seven years. Furthermore, it means the Customs Service would violate a provision contained in the Fiscal Year 1987 continuing resolution, Public Law 99-591, which provides that the Customs Service shall maintain an average of 14,891 FTE's, or fulltime-equivalent positions. This really presents another problem. In the past, the Administration has attempted to hire less personnel than those for which Congress has provided funds. Through the Office of Management and Budget, this Administration has cited lack of authorization, although in the years when there has not been an authorization bill per se, legal authorization was carried in the appropriation bill. OMB has attempted to use backdoor methods to prohibit increases, in my view, by absorbing increased costs, such as the pay hikes. This year, OMB is asking that Customs absorb the cost of the Federal Employees Retirement System and the three percent pay increase, for a total of $21.6 million, which will result, as I said before, in a cut of about 600 personnel. It is interesting to note that Customs is one of the few agencies under the Treasury Department being forced to absorb those cuts. The IRS, the most labor intensive agency in the Treasury Department, is seeking a supplemental appropriation. But then OMB and the Administration learned what happened, I think some years ago, when you cut the IRS. Faced with the intransigence of the Administration to accept Congressional policy with regards to the Customs Service, I believe that the amendment that I offered to the fiscal year 1987 continuing resolution was helpful. It provided that the Customs Service shall hire and maintain an average of 14,891 full-time-equivalent positions. I think that many of us in Congress would have to plead guilty to micro-managing that agency. I really believe we in Congress had no other choice. The Customs Service has run an average annual vacancy rate of approximately 400 positions. And I think many people that I represent and many other Members of Congress, in the House and the Senate, would understand how much we could use those various positions, if we could just have them filled. I now learn that OMB is still resisting and has placed apportionment controls on the Customs Service quarterly payments to prevent the agency from hiring up the Congressionally-mandated level. It is my opinion that they are violating the Budget Control and Impoundment Act of 1974. OMB argues that it has a rescission pending, but, as I'm speaking, the House Appropriations Committee is meeting this morning, and I feel certain that we will reject that rescission. The effect, Mr. Chairman, is that the U.S. Customs Service is being decimated by a continuing attack on its resources while its mission expands. I want to work, and as I know this committee does, to help the Customs Service do a better job. And it is in that spirit that I offer this background and this testimony, because I don't believe we can do more with less. I believe that it is a federal responsibility, and one that we should not shirk away from, and one that we need to take on, and take on in a manner that will be beneficial, not just to the Customs Service, but to all of the people in this country that it serves. I thank you for the opportunity to testify, Mr. Chairman. [The prepared written statement of the Honorable Ronald D. Coleman follows:] |