Border Protection Appointment Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may assume.

I rise in support of H.R. 1517, to grant special 2-year authority to the Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, CBP, to correct a mistake in the hiring appointment for certain CBP employees stationed overseas at the pre-inspection posts. This corrective action will ensure CBP is able to keep trained officers stationed in key overseas positions.

This bill provides authority to CBP to noncompetitively convert employees mistakenly hired under an overseas limited appointment to permanent status. This action will correct the employment category and protect their Federal benefits and retirement.

There are approximately 35 employees in Ireland, Aruba, Bermuda, the Bahamas, and Canada affected by this hiring error. Without legislative authority, the employees will be required to convert to locally hired staff or return to the U.S. and compete for domestic CBP jobs.

These employees have been working between 6 and 15 years in their overseas posts to ensure that travelers coming to the U.S. do not pose a threat. The CBP officers in these posts work in the pre-clearance program which deploys CBP officers at select overseas airports to conduct entry-level inspections before planes depart foreign soil for the U.S.

Through no fault of their own, these employees are now facing problems with their employment status due to a mistake made years ago when they were initially hired. With the passage of this legislation, we can fix this error and ensure that the employees continue their work and maintain their level of pay and benefits.

The development and consideration of this legislation was bipartisan from the beginning, and I would like to thank the bill's sponsors, Congressman Engel and Ranking Member King, for introducing the bill, and Chairman Thompson for his support in moving the bill out of the committee.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill and send it to the President in a timely manner.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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