The State of U.S. Travel and Tourism: Government Efforts to Attract 100 Million Visitors Annually

6/26/2014

Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation

Chairman Schatz, Ranking Member Scott, distinguished members of the Subcommittee; thank you for the opportunity to provide this testimony. As President of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), I have the honor of leading a union that represents over 24,000

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Officers and trade enforcement specialists stationed at

329 land, sea and air ports of entry across the United States (U.S.).

For years, NTEU has maintained that delays at the ports of entry result in real losses to the U.S. economy. According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, more than 50 million Americans work for companies that engage in international trade and travel. And, according to a recent University of Southern California study, The Impact on the Economy of Changes in Wait Times at the Ports of Entry, for every 1,000 CBP Officers added, the U.S. can increase its gross domestic product by $2 billion, which equates to 33 new private sector jobs per CBP Officer added.

Travel and tourism also drive economic growth. According to the U.S. Travel Association, nearly 32 million overseas travelers visited the U.S. in 2013. For every 34 of these visitors, an additional American job is created. A recent U.S. Travel Association survey; however, revealed that delays in passenger processing, caused by staffing shortages at the ports, has discouraged international travelers from visiting the U.S. According to the survey, eliminating long lines and wait times at ports of entry would make the U.S. a more attractive destination, and, among survey respondents who had never come to the U.S., 40 percent said they would consider a visit if they knew they could count on timely entry processing.

NTEU applauds Congress for recognizing that there is no greater roadblock to legitimate trade and travel efficiency than the lack of sufficient personnel at the ports. Earlier in the year,

Congress passed the 2014 Consolidated Appropriations Act that provided funding to hire an additional 2,000 CBP Officers--for a total of 23,775 CBP Officers to be on board by the end of

2015. In its Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 budget submission, the Administration asked Congress to

approve an increase in both customs and immigration user fees to fund an additional 2,000 CBP Officers to address the rise in the number of international travelers. NTEU strongly supports the increase of the immigration and customs user fees by $2 each to fund the hiring of an additional 2000 CBP Officers. CBP collects user fees to recover certain costs incurred for processing, including air and sea passengers, and various private and commercial land, sea, air, and rail carriers and shipments.

Increasing the immigration inspection user fee by $2 would allow CBP to better align air passenger inspection fee revenue with the costs of providing immigration inspection services. According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO-12-464T, page 11), fee collections available to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and CBP to pay for costs incurred in providing immigration inspection services totaled about $600 million in FY 2010, however, “air passenger immigration fees collections did not fully cover CBP’s costs in FY 2009 and FY 2010.”

Despite an enacted increase in appropriated funding in FY 2014 and 2015 for an additional 2000 CBP Officers, CBP will continue to face staffing shortages in FY 2015 and beyond. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security this week included language in its FY 2015 mark a $2 increase in the immigration user fee to fund the hiring of an additional 1000 CBP Officers at the air and sea ports. If this Committee and Congress are serious about job creation and meeting its goal to attract 100 million travelers annually, then

you should support the Subcommittee bill language that increases the immigration user fee and

enactment of legislation that increases Customs user fee by $2 and adjust both fees annually to inflation.

Foreign Language Awards Program (FLAP)

Since 1997, CBP has implemented the Foreign Language Awards Program (FLAP), a program established by Congress in 1993 that incentivizes employees at the nation’s ports of entry who speak and use foreign language skills on the job to receive a cash incentive for enhancing their language skills, if they use the language for at least 10 percent of their duties, as well as pass language competency tests.

In its FY 2015 budget submission, however, CBP has proposed cutting FLAP funding from the enacted FY 2013 level of $19 million to $3 million. This Committee should be very concerned about the impact on the traveling public and CBP’s security mission if an 84% cut in this valuable program is implemented. In the FY 2013 Senate Homeland Security

Appropriations bill, Congress encouraged CBP to work with airport authorities to develop a

“welcome ambassador” program and cited language in CBP’s FY 2012 Improving Entry Process for Visitors Report stating, “[CBPOs are] the first face of the US Government that travelers see at ports of entry. As a visible symbol of our Nation, CBP Officers have an important responsibility.”

Incentivizing CBP Officers to attain and maintain competency in a foreign language through FLAP, not only improves the efficiency of operations, it makes the U.S. a more welcoming place when foreign travelers can communicate with CBP Officers in their native language, and helps expedite traveler processing leading to reduced wait times. In a recent U.S. Travel Association Traveler Survey, adding entry processing personnel fluent in foreign languages ranked second in priority--only surpassed by reducing long lines and wait times.

By authorizing FLAP, Congress understood that CBP Officers stationed at air, sea and land ports of entry are in daily, direct contact with international travelers. The facilitation of trade and travel, along with port security, is a dual mission of these employees. Not only do language barriers delay processing of trade and travel at the ports, but communication breakdowns can be dangerous for CBP Officers. Confusion can arise when a non-English speaking person does not understand the CBP Officer’s commands. These situations can escalate quite rapidly if that individual keeps moving forward or does not take their hands out of their pockets when requested.

Recognizing the importance of this program, Congress specified a dedicated funding source to pay for FLAP -- customs user fees. Congress authorized user fees for certain customs services in the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. The Act stipulates the disposition of these user fees for the payment of overtime, premium pay, agency retirement contributions to the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund, preclearance services and FLAP (see 19 U.S.C., section 58c (f)(3) (A)(i)).

FLAP has incentivized the use of more than two dozen languages, and has been instrumental in identifying and utilizing CBP Officers who are proficient in a foreign language. The majority of CBP Officers who receive a FLAP award do so on the basis of their proficiency in Spanish, but other key languages that CBP Officers are called upon to use include French, Chinese, Korean and Japanese. Qualified employees are also eligible for awards for the use of the following languages of special interest that have been identified as critical foreign

languages in support of CBP’s anti-terrorism mission:

Arabic

South Asian – Urdu (UAE, Oman), Farsi (Iran, Bahrain), Punjabi (Pakistan), Dari-Pushtu

(Afghanistan), Turkish (Turkey, Cyprus)

Eurasian – Uzbek, Tajik, Turkoman, Uighur

African Horn – Somalo, Amharic, Tigrinya

Bahasa (Indonesia), Tagalog (Philippines)

Kurdish (Karmanji)

Russian

Chechen

In order for employees to receive an incentive, they must demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language via a test, and use the foreign language during at least 10 percent of their normal work schedule. The employee incentive is based on their competency level as determined by the exam. CBP Officers’ foreign language skills are tested once per year – with two additional exams per year for languages of special interest.

Only employees testing at Level 4 and 5 of language proficiency are eligible for the full

5% incentive payment. Those testing at Level 3 receive a 3% incentive award and those at Level

2 receive a 1% incentive payment. All Border Patrol Agents and some CBP Officers are trained

at their respective training centers in Level 1 basic Spanish. However, Level 1 is deemed so basic that it is not eligible for a FLAP incentive. Higher language proficiency and usage are necessary to be eligible for the FLAP incentive.

Since FLAP was implemented, thousands of frontline CBP Officers at the ports of entry have chosen to maintain and improve their existing level of foreign language proficiency, and the program is further responsible for other frontline employees to acquire new foreign language capability at a much higher level than the basic Level 1 proficiency. At CBP, this program has been an unqualified success, not just for the agency and its employees, but for travelers who are aided by having someone at a port of entry who speaks their language.

RECOMMENDATIONS

To help the government in its continued efforts to attract 100 million visitors annually to the U.S., grow the economy, and create new private sector jobs, NTEU urges the Committee to support:

• Funding, including user fee increases, for additional CBP personnel to ensure security and to mitigate prolonged wait times for both trade and travel at our nation’s ports of entry; and

• Requiring CBP to continue providing the $19 million customs user fee funding for all

FLAP-eligible CBP employees.

Thank you for the opportunity to submit this testimony.