Battle Looms Over Customs Process Fees
A provision buried in a 100-page Senate appropriations bill would extend the U.S. Customs Service’s merchandise processing fee from April 2003 to April 2010. The action has raised a few eyebrows on Capitol Hill because legislation dealing with customs appropriations has historically been initiated in the House.
A spokesperson for Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who chairs the Senate subcommittee, said that Specter is not aware of how the provision got into the Senate’s bill. The spokesperson added that the provision would “most likely be taken out in conference.”
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“I don’t know what the story is,” said Rep.Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.), chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal Service and General Government, the panel that normally initiates Customs appropriations. Referring to the Senate subcommittee’s MPF proposal, he added, “It’s a very odd place for it.”
The bill extending the MPFs was introduced in the Senate by its Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education. Under normal circumstances, customs appropriations fall under the purview of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal Service and General Government.
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