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Washington, D.C.—With the fiscal 2007 budget process well underway, Commissioner-designate Ralph W. Basham of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) “faces serious and difficult challenges” in meeting the staffing and resource needs of that agency, the head of the union representing thousands of homeland security employees in CBP said today.

Nonetheless, said President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), “the needs are clear and pressing, and if CBP is going to fulfill its critical mission on behalf of the American people, these needs will have to be met—and soon.”

One glaring example, she said, is evident in the proposed DHS budget for fiscal 2007, which would provide funding for fewer than 100 additional positions at the 317 U.S. ports of entry.

President Kelley offered that assessment as the Senate Finance Committee began its confirmation hearing for Basham, who is presently head of the Secret Service, to serve as CBP Commissioner.

The Finance Committee holds primary jurisdiction over the issue since CBP employees play indispensable roles in facilitating U.S. trade. Such trade generates more revenue for the federal government than any other source except tax payments.

The issue of trade promises to be a major concern in the confirmation, President Kelley predicted, since the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)—the parent agency of CBP—has failed to meet the congressional mandate in the 2002 Homeland Security Act (HSA) that it not reduce staffing levels or resources allocated to trade-related functions.

NTEU is supporting legislation introduced less than a week ago by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) that would require DHS to boost the number of import specialists by some 14 percent. Import specialists are the linchpin of the trade-facilitation process at U.S. ports.

The Schumer-Rangel bill would require DHS to employ at least the number of import specialists employed by the legacy Customs Service—now part of CBP—in fiscal 2001. That number was 1,080 employees. Since then, however, the agency has allowed the number of import specialists to fall to only 948 in fiscal 2005.

President Kelley also said she is hopeful members of the Finance Committee will question the nominee on the likely timeline for development of a much-needed CBP staffing model; on possible plans to transfer some inspectional duties to import specialists—a move that would reflect port staffing shortages of CBP Officers around the country; the timetable for implementation of the previously-announced hiring by CBP of 45 additional employees to bolster U.S. textile law enforcement efforts; and on other related matters, including the need for law enforcement officer (LEO) status for CBP Officers and his views on the agency’s misguided and mismanaged ‘One Face at the Border’ program.

NTEU is the nation’s largest independent federal union, representing 150,000 employees in 30 agencies and departments, including 15,000 in CBP.