Port Authorities, NTEU Criticize Trump's Budget Blueprint
Organizations that represent port authorities and CBP officers reacted in disappointment to President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2018 budget blueprint, submitted to Congress March 16 and would cut port-related funding while increasing discretionary Department of Homeland Security spending (see 1703160022). The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) is “apprehensive” about the blueprint, including a proposal to significantly reduce DHS’s Port Security Grants Program and end the Transportation Department’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants program, the group said in a statement (here). House Speaker Paul Ryan (here), R-Wis., commended Trump’s budget, saying he is “determined” to work with the White House in shrinking government, growing the economy, securing U.S. borders, and providing troops with necessary resources. Ryan said he will review the blueprint with the House Appropriations Committee and the House Republican Conference.
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AAPA recommended instead a 500-officer increase in the number of CBP officers working in the maritime environment, an expansion of DHS port security grants, a boost in TIGER funding from the $499 million annualized fiscal 2017 continuing resolution level to $1.25 billion per year, and an authorization for multimodal FASTLANE grant programs to absorb more than the current $500 million annual maximum. “Adequate federal investments into U.S. port-related infrastructure, both on the landside and waterside, are crucial for the efficient movement of goods so the nation can remain globally competitive,” AAPA CEO Kurt Nagle said. “Activities at U.S. seaports account for more than a quarter of the nation’s economy, support over 23 million American jobs and generate more than $320 billion a year in federal, state and local tax revenue.”
The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), which represents CBP employees and other government workers, criticized the blueprint (here). “Whether it’s through enforcing environmental laws, inspecting imported goods at the border, prosecuting financial fraud, or reviewing the safety of new food and medical products, NTEU members and all federal employees do work that matters to our well-being as a nation,” the NTEU said. “Starving the very agencies that serve taxpayers every day, in ways big and small, is a cruel opening bid in the annual debate over our federal budget,” said NTEU National President Tony Reardon, who promised to fight the proposed cuts.