Upstate New York Reps. Chris Collins, a Republican, and Brian Higgins, a Democrat, urged Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and CBP Acting Commissioner Kevin McAleenan to implement procedures to reduce processing times at the northern U.S. border for commercial vehicles, Collins’ office said (here). Modernizing the collection of the port-of-entry user fee and requiring all empty trucks to report via e-manifest would reduce processing times, the lawmakers wrote in a letter to the officials (here). “Most people understand that congestion at international crossings, particularly truck congestion, is primarily due to Customs procedures,” Peace Bridge (N.Y.) Authority General Manager Ron Rienas said in a statement. “These common sense regulatory fixes should be implemented as soon as possible. Having Customs officers collecting cash and manually inputting manifest data does nothing to enhance national security.”

Lawmakers recently introduced the following trade-related bills:

The Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee on July 18 approved fiscal year 2018 spending legislation that would fully fund and keep catfish inspections at the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), aligning with a bill passed July 12 by House appropriators (see 1707120035). The Trump administration’s FY18 budget requested that catfish inspections shift back to the Food and Drug Administration (see 1706280034). The bill matches the $1 billion outlined for total FSIS funding in the House Appropriations Committee-approved version (here), the Senate Appropriations Committee said (here). This amount would support more than 8,000 front-line inspection personnel for meat, poultry and egg products at more than 6,400 U.S. facilities. The Senate version also would provide $953.2 million for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, $46.8 million above the amount outlined in the House Appropriations Committee-approved version.

Lawmakers recently introduced the following trade-related bills:

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., on July 14 pushed (here) the Defense Department to take immediate action to better comply with the “Buy American” procurement statute and the Berry Amendment, after a DOD inspector general report earlier this month revealed that Defense Logistics Agency contractors didn’t comply with the Berry Amendment in 19 of 32 reviewed contracts. Those 19 contracts were worth $453.2 million total, according to the report’s findings (here). The Berry Amendment requires the Defense Department to give procurement preference to U.S. companies. “Every single time the Inspector General conducts one of these audits, DoD fails miserably. There’s a complete breakdown of compliance with the law and of respect for American businesses and workers,” Murphy said in a statement. “Every single time they break the rules, knowingly or not, and send a contract overseas, it means fewer jobs here at home. DoD’s contracting personnel need to be re-trained to ensure they follow the law. I’ll keep pushing DoD until they’ve made it clear that they’re changing their ways.”

National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) National President Anthony Reardon on July 17 called out the House Appropriations Committee for omitting any new money from its fiscal year 2018 Homeland Security funding bill to address CBP staffing shortages at U.S. ports of entry. In a letter (here) to committee chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., which also was copied to ranking member Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., Reardon urged the committee to boost funding for CBP officers and agriculture specialists to curb staffing shortages at ports of entry. “Despite the fact that CBP has been chronically understaffed at the ports for years, the FY 2018 Homeland Security Appropriations bill includes no new funding to address CBP’s current frontline staffing shortages at the ports of entry,” Reardon said. “The current CBP Officer shortage is staggering.” There is a long-standing vacancy rate of 1,400 funded CBP port officers, and CBP’s analytic workload staffing model states that another 2,100 must be funded and hired to meet FY17 staffing needs, meaning CBP is running an officer staffing shortage of 3,500, he said.

U.S. Trade Robert Lighthizer "must" closely consult with Congress before and during meetings with South Korean officials to modify the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, top trade lawmakers in the House and Senate said in a July 17 letter (here). Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, and ranking member Richard Neal, D-Mass., wrote to “emphasize the importance of adhering to the requirements established in the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015,” also known as Trade Promotion Authority. Lighthizer requested a meeting of the KORUS Joint Committee to consider “possible amendments and modifications” in a July 12 letter to the South Korean government (see 1707130002).

The House Appropriations Committee on July 13 approved fiscal year 2018 Financial Services and General Government spending legislation urging the Consumer Product Safety Commission to withdraw a November 2013 proposed rule that would make voluntary corrective action plans legally binding, the committee announced (here). “Despite overwhelming opposition, the Commission has failed to withdraw its proposed rule on voluntary recalls,” the committee report of the bill says (here). “The Committee opposes making unnecessary changes to a recall system that has worked well over the past 40 years.” If finalized, the rule would hurt small businesses, the report states. Under CPSC’s proposal, once a company voluntarily agrees to undertake a corrective action plan pursuant to a voluntary recall, the company would be legally bound to fulfill the terms of the agreement (see 13112028).

The Senate Finance Committee postponed the July 13 hearing to consider the nomination of Kevin McAleenan for CBP commissioner “until further notice,” according to an announcement (here). "The Finance Committee hearing has been postponed subject to the call of the chair to enable the committee to complete its review of the nomination,” a committee spokeswoman said. Committee staff recently communicated that the hearing would be pretty straightforward and there were “no issues” in McAleenan’s confirmation process, a lobbyist said. At least one committee member didn’t learn of the postponement until the morning of July 13, the lobbyist said. Senate Finance didn’t provide a specific reason for the postponement.

The House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee on July 12 approved fiscal year 2018 spending legislation (here) that matches CBP’s $109 million request for new non-intrusive inspection equipment, and would formally ban imports of property confiscated by the Cuban government. CBP requested $109.2 million for non-intrusive inspection equipment in its procurement, construction and improvement budget for FY18, reflecting a 21 percent increase over annualized FY17 continuing resolution funding levels. In total, the bill would provide $13.8 billion in discretionary appropriations for CBP, $1.6 billion above the FY17-enacted level.