Opinion: Upgrade Border Ports of Entry

D-N.Y., 21st Congressional District

Ports of entry along our land borders with Canada and Mexico facilitate more than $625 billion in trade every year, supporting nearly 14 million American jobs. However, with ever-growing levels of cross-border commerce and increasingly integrated supply chains connecting firms and business operations across our borders, North American trade has increased beyond the capacity of land ports of entry to efficiently facilitate it.

The resulting delays of commercial traffic and passenger vehicles create bottlenecks that cost tens of thousands of American jobs and billions of dollars in lost economic output every year. Businesses negatively affected by the heavy transaction costs of these delays include “just-in-time” assembly line auto manufacturers and medical isotope producers, who deliver lifesaving materials that rapidly decay while in transit.

Backups also deter tourism and cross-border shopping, which inject billions of dollars into the U.S. economy annually. While there has been much focus on the specific challenge of constructing a new international bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, this frustrating situation is symptomatic of a much broader problem, the operation of outdated, insufficient ports of entry all along our northern border with our largest trading partner, including other major ports such as New York’s Alexandria Bay and Buffalo.

Although the Alexandria Bay port of entry, in my congressional district, will receive appropriated funding to make a vital expansion and facility improvements, unfortunately this is the exception that proves the rule. Federal funding for port of entry construction projects, staffing levels and new technologies has not been able to keep pace with the fast-growing needs of ports to facilitate and expedite the increasing movement of people and goods.

Therefore, we must explore new policy solutions that can address this growing problem, alleviating the federal appropriations gap without imposing new burdensome fees on businesses and tourists. Doing so will enhance trade and travel across a smarter, better-resourced border that can generate ever-greater economic growth and job creation.

The fiscal 2014 Consolidated Appropriations Act, passed by Congress in January, includes several provisions that could be used to improve the efficiency of border operations.

First, the expansion of cost-reimbursement agreements, allowing nongovernmental entities to contribute to the costs of overtime pay for Customs and Border Protection officers, has the potential to alleviate staffing shortages at ports of entry at peak times.

Second, a newly provided donations authority to CBP could allow for the acceptance of private donations to finance port-of-entry staffing, facility upgrades and improvements.

Both of these mechanisms could provide the private sector with new opportunities to create mutually beneficial partnerships with the federal government that can stimulate our recovering economy.

I have introduced a bill (H.R. 1266) that would authorize the General Services Administration, which owns and manages most of our nation’s land ports, to enter into long-term lease agreements with nongovernmental entities capable of raising private capital, constructing improvement projects according to USG Corp. specifications, and leasing the upgraded facilities back to the GSA.

These public-private partnerships could infuse critical port-of-entry infrastructure projects with new, previously unavailable capital while also benefiting from risk-sharing and private-sector efficiencies throughout the planning and construction process.

I also have introduced a bill (H.R. 5251) that would create a new opportunity for foreign investment into U.S. infrastructure, such as land ports of entry, by exempting foreign pension plans from the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act (FIRPTA).

By taxing the property investments of foreign pension funds in the same way as domestic funds, millions of dollars in new investment will be available for real estate and property assets in the United States. This legislation is but one example of a proposal to clear the way for private-sector investment to upgrade our trade infrastructure, resulting in a significant boost for trade and economic growth.

The Beyond the Border Action Plan, a declaration signed in February 2011 by President Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Harper, contains a Joint Infrastructure Investment Plan, which strategically coordinates port of entry investments on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border, resulting in significant cost savings for both nations.

Enhancing trade infrastructure relies on this close cooperation to ensure sufficient facilities on both sides of our northern border. Furthermore, the future co-location of border facilities could yield important cost savings, capitalizing on the binational sharing of trade infrastructure.

Investments in physical infrastructure at ports of entry are but one key component of enhancing North American trade. Others include investments in information-technology infrastructure, streamlined customs and border-security systems and critical personnel.

Importantly, the Beyond the Border Action Plan also calls for a series of other trade-enhancing measures that would improve the efficiency of border operations, in essence making our border with Canada simultaneously safer, thinner and smarter.

Single-window technology will provide traders with the opportunity to electronically submit all compliance information to Customs and Border Protection and all other federal regulatory agencies simultaneously, through just one system. The expansion of enrollment and commercially meaningful benefits of trusted trader and traveler programs also will reduce wait times and improve processing at border crossings. The creation of preclearance processes will allow commercial cargo to be cleared before it reaches the border, further avoiding costly delays.

In line with the goals of the Beyond the Border Action Plan, Congress in early 2014 also appropriated for the hiring and training of 2,000 new Customs and Border Protection officers. They will be allocated according to CBP’s workload staffing model, which recognizes varying security- and trade-facilitation needs across all of America’s ports of entry.

As countries around the world are increasingly building economic competitiveness through the development of regional trade blocs, so too must the United States work with our Canadian and Mexican partners to build stronger and more competitive supply chains across North America, taking advantage of the natural resources and financial and human capital available in all three nations.

Land ports of entry are key assets that facilitate this regional trade and drive our economic competitiveness globally. They must be seen as integral components of our competitiveness strategy. Let us continue to engage in a constructive conversation about how better to develop these assets and with them, stronger economic growth that creates more well-paying American jobs into the 21st century.

Owens represents New York state’s northernmost congressional district. Co-chairman of the Northern Border Caucus, he also is a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security.