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Washington, D.C.—Chronic staffing shortages at Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are hurting employee morale and damaging the U.S. economy, the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) told a congressional committee today.

In testimony submitted to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, which conducted a hearing on fiscal year (FY) 2017 funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), NTEU said involuntary overtime and work assignments far from home disrupt the family lives of CBP Officers (CBPOs) and hurt morale.

Not having enough Agriculture Specialists hurts the economy, especially the U.S. agricultural sector, which generates $1 trillion in economic activity every year, NTEU National President Tony Reardon said in the testimony.

NTEU expressed support for the White House’s proposal to give CBP $12.9 billion in FY17, 5.2 percent more than the amount Congress gave the agency for this year. While NTEU applauds CBP’s plan to meet its 2014 goal to hire 2,000 additional CBPOs, the agency’s most recent workload staffing model shows an ongoing shortfall of 2,071 CBPOs and 631 Agriculture Specialists, Reardon said.

NTEU is pushing Congress to give CBP all of the resources it needs to staff up to appropriate levels and help the smooth flow of global trade, commerce and travel, President Reardon said.

One way to increase staffing is for Congress not to divert resources targeted to hire additional CBP Officers to purposes unrelated to higher levels of staffing at the nation’s ports, he said.

“NTEU was disappointed that Congress, in last year’s highway bill, diverted Customs User fees to serve as an offset for highway funding, rather than use this fee increase to hire additional CBP Officers,” President Reardon said in the testimony. “NTEU will work to redirect this $400 million a year funding stream back to CBP for its intended use—to pay for inspection services provided to the user.”

NTEU represents 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments, including about 25,000 CBP employees.