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Washington, D.C.—While action by the House Appropriations Committee to expand to $301.8 million the amount of emergency spending allocated to the needs of the Customs Service, particularly for security of the nation’s northern border, is “a step in the right direction, it is still far short of the need,” the president of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) said today.

The Appropriations Committee last night approved its version of a plan to allocate $20 billion in emergency spending by federal agencies authorized by Congress in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley said she hopes that as debate over allocation of the emergency spending moves through Congress, there will be “due recognition given” to the overwhelming sentiment expressed in both the House and Senate for a tripling of Customs personnel on the northern border.

The NTEU leader said that while she welcomes the sharp boost above the $114.2 million allocated by the administration in its proposed spending plan for the $20 billion, she “would have preferred” adoption by the committee of an alternative offered by Rep. David Obey (D-WI).

The Obey proposal would have boosted emergency funding to Customs to $448 million and provided an additional 790 Customs employees on the U.S.-Canadian border.

At the time of the administration’s spending plan in mid-October, Kelley was highly critical of the plan as failing to address the clear intent of both the House and Senate to triple Customs personnel along the 4,000-mile northern border from 1,773 to 5,319.

Reaching that goal would require more than $425 million, Kelley said, without taking into account needs at the more heavily traveled southern border and other locations.

“The president’s proposed allocation was insufficient to meet this mandate, and while the House Appropriations Committee action is a step forward, more is needed,” she said.

Under the Committee’s proposal, $160 million would be directed to Customs’ needs at the northern border and for “seaport security,” including technology; $107.5 million for “response and recovery” efforts by Customs, including replacement of space damaged or destroyed in the attacks; $21.3 million would be earmarked for the fight against international money-laundering; and an additional $9.4 million would be provided for training of Customs officers.

“The greater funding needs are obvious,” she said, “as are the heroic efforts being made by Customs personnel around the country—working double and triple shifts. There is no solution other than for Congress and the administration to provide this agency with the full resources to accomplish the vital tasks assigned to it, and which the American people have a right to expect will be done.”

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing some 150,000 employees in 25 agencies and departments, including nearly 12,000 in Customs.