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Washington, D.C.—The leader of the union representing more than 12,000 employees of the Customs Service today slammed the Bush Administration’s proposed anti-terrorism spending plan as shortchanging the nation’s pressing need for improved security along its northern border.

Moreover, said President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), the administration’s proposal, contained in a message to Congress, “fails to address the clear intent” of Congress to triple Customs personnel along the northern border.

The administration’s proposal, she said, “is, at best, a stopgap, temporary measure that doesn’t meet the real needs” of the nation’s primary border security agency. “When we shortchange Customs,” Kelley said, “we shortchange America’s security.”

Kelley called on Congress to match the administration’s request to the reality of the northern border. “The need for more personnel is clear,” she said, “and with a substantial commitment of resources to anti-terrorism work by the Congress, the money should be as well.”

The NTEU president was addressing documents released by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) showing that the administration is asking Congress to spend only $114.2 million for Customs “to improve and expand airport and aviation security as well as increase efforts of inspectors at high-risk seaports and land borders.”

This money is part of the $40 billion in emergency funding authorized by Congress in the wake of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington. An initial $20 billion was provided for discretionary

spending by the administration, which has spent some $7 billion so far, mainly on disaster relief and defense.

The remaining $20 billion is subject to congressional approval through the appropriations process.

Through the OMB documents, the administration provided Congress with its proposed blueprint for spending this $20 billion.

Kelley called the $114.2 million contained in the administration’s proposal “totally inadequate” to triple the number of Customs personnel on the northern border from 1,773 to 5,319, as called for in House and Senate anti-terrorism bills.

Nearly half the $114.2 million is earmarked for travel and overtime costs, with an additional $27 million to be used to relocate the Customs laboratory, $10.5 million for temporary space in New York and $18 million in computer software for an automated passenger control program. “The pressing need for additional personnel is conspicuously missing from the spending list,” Kelley said.

She added that it is likely that reaching the personnel goals Congress has set just for the nation’s northern border, much less its more heavily traveled southern border and other locations, would cost more than $425 million alone. Providing Customs enough money to fund overtime on the northern border “does no more than keep us at status quo,” the NTEU leader said.

Moreover, she said, the fact that Customs inspectors and canine enforcement officers are working “grueling schedules that no one should reasonably expect they can sustain” highlights the need for more resources and personnel for this agency.” Between 400 and 500 men and women have preliminarily been cleared for hiring, she said, but that depends on the availability of resources. And, she noted, given the lengthy training time, it would be some months before they could make a contribution to the Customs mission.

Kelley said that waiting until next year’s congressional appropriations cycle to boost Customs’ resources “would be a terrible mistake for our nation.” The resources are needed now, she said. “Customs employees have proven, time and time again, that given the resources and personnel, they will perform admirably in the service of their fellow Americans—and they will do so again in this critical time.”

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