Speech #1130125415

Speaker. that is a winwin situation. I am honored to have that bill before us today. and I urge my colleagues to support it. The Border Patrol Agent Pay Reform Act of 2014 would replace Border Patrols current pay system and create a consistent and reliable pay system. enhance border security. and save taxpayers literally hundreds of millions of dollars. Established in 1924. todays Border Patrol relies on roughly 21.000 agents to secure some 6.000 miles of international borders between Mexico and Canada and 2.000 miles of coastal waters surrounding Florida and Puerto Rico. Properly paying Border Patrol agents and responsibly managing a payroll system are critical to the mission of the United States Customs and Border Patrol. often referred to as CBP. Thirteen months ago. November 20. 2013. the Subcommittee on National Security held a hearing to examine the Border Patrols compensation policies. The hearing focused on a report by the Office of Special Counsel documenting abuse of a type of overtime within the Border Patrol. The OSC testified to longstanding abuse of overtime within the Border Patrol. including by headquarters employees who regularly extended their day by roughly 2 hours and padding their paychecks by an additional 25 percent. Administratively uncontrollable overtime. AUO. was established more than 40 years ago to pay employees for "irregular. unscheduled. but necessary overtime." The Department of Homeland Security is one of the largest users of AUO within the Federal Government. with Border Patrol accounting for more than 75 percent of the paid AUO. Border Patrol agents receive between 10 and 25 percent of their basic pay through AUO. depending on the average number of irregular overtime performed per week. Generally. agents themselves are responsible for recognizing without supervision the circumstances which require them to remain on duty beyond regular hours. They are down on the border. they are pursuing somebody who is coming across illegally.