Democrats Seek to Bar Customs Fees From Funding Short-Term Highway Extension

With the highway bill set to be marked up Oct. 22, Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee have asked their fellow members on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to prevent the use of Customs and Border Protection fees to cover the costs of another short-term funding extension.

The Senate has passed a highway bill that includes $4 billion from customs fees to help pay for three years of transportation funding. The current short-term extension approved in July by the House expires on Oct. 29.

“We are concerned about the inclusion of language that would result in the diversion of $400 million a year in potential Customs user fee funding from staffing and overtime for the Customs and Border Protection officers stationed at our nation's air, sea and land ports of entry to unrelated transportation projects,” the Democrats wrote. “The inclusion of this provision is, in our view, a troubling precedent … It is critical that any increases in Customs user fees, including additional revenue from indexing current fees to inflation, be applied to sorely needed border security needs, including the need for increases to CBP officer staffing to strengthen America's border security and economy." 

The letter was signed by Reps. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), Bill Keating (D-Mass.), Jim Langevin (D-R.I.), Donald Payne Jr. (D-N.J.), Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.), Cedric Richmond (D-La.), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.), Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.), Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), Norma Torres (D-Calif.), Filemon Vela (D-Texas) and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.). All but Cuellar, Kaptur and Roybal-Allard are members of the Homeland Security Committee. The latter trio serve on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security.

With vehicles becoming more fuel-efficient, the 18.4 cents per gallon federal gas tax is no longer sufficient to fund transportation, falling about $16 billion short of the necessary $50 billion. However, Congress has shown no appetite for raising the tax.