Speaker, I rise today in strong support of my bill,
H.R. 2213, the Anti-Border Corruption Reauthorization Act of 2017. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has two key missions: securing the
border and facilitating cross-border commerce that powers the Nation's
economic growth. In order to accomplish those missions, they need
enough agents and officers to be able to make arrests, interdict drug
loads, screen cargo from countries of concern, or move legitimate
commerce and passengers through an air, land, and sea port of entry. U.S. Border Patrol agents and CBP officers are, at the end of the
day, the most important border security and trade resource we have. Unfortunately, they are in short supply these days, which has created a
national security and economic vulnerability that this Congress must
address. CBP is critically understaffed and remains well below its
congressionally mandated staffing levels by more than 1,000 CBP
officers and 1,800 border patrol agents. The manpower shortage is
getting worse. We are losing ground every single month, and there is no
end in sight as we continue to lose experienced agents and officers
through attrition without the ability to efficiently hire new ones.
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