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Washington, D.C. — The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) has endorsed bipartisan Senate legislation to speed up the hiring process at Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and alleviate chronic understaffing at the agency.

The Boots on the Border Act, S. 595, would waive the agency’s polygraph requirement for certain job applicants, such as veterans and current state and local law enforcement officers.

The bill is sponsored by Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz), Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.), Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.). It is scheduled for a vote Wednesday, May 17, by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, led by Johnson and McCaskill.

“This legislation would help CBP fill longstanding vacancies without lowering its standards,” said NTEU National President Tony Reardon. “The polygraph screening has been a major impediment to hiring because of CBP’s unusually high failure rate, suggesting that qualified candidates have been unfairly rejected.”

NTEU represents more than 25,000 CBP Officers, Agriculture Specialists and Trade Enforcement Specialists who work the frontlines at the nation’s 328 ports of entry. Officer shortages have led to involuntary overtime shifts and temporary duty assignments because the agency has 1,400 existing vacancies, and needs another 2,100 more officers just to meet its own staffing models.

Reardon endorsed the legislation in a recent letter to the senators.

“CBP is the only federal agency with a congressional mandate that all front-line officer applicants receive a polygraph test,” Reardon wrote. “NTEU does not seek to reduce the standards used by CBP in their hiring process, but believes that there is a problem with how the polygraph is currently administered.”

NTEU has asked CBP to review its polygraph procedures to understand why the agency’s failure rate is more than double the average rate of eight other law enforcement agencies.

"NTEU commends the senators for bringing this important legislation to a vote in committee and we look forward to its consideration by the full Senate as soon as possible,” Reardon said.

Rep. Martha McSally (R-Ariz) is sponsoring similar legislation in the House, which is also supported by NTEU. H.R. 2213 was approved in committee and awaits a vote by the full House. 

NTEU represents 150,000 employees at 31 federal agencies and departments.