Senators vow to move CBP commissioner nomination forward

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch called acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan “one of the best witnesses to come before the committee in a long time” and vowed to move his confirmation forward “as soon as possible.”    At the end of a nearly hour-and-a-half-long confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday, Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, called acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin K. McAleenan “one of the best witnesses to come before the committee in a long time.”
   The senator added that he will make it a priority to “push the nomination through the process as soon as possible.”
   Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who serves as the committee’s ranking member, also referred to McAleenan as a “bright spot” in the Trump administration.
   In addition, McAleenan has received strong backing from the trade, which has peppered the committee in recent months with letters pressing for his confirmation to CBP commissioner.
   McAleenan has served as acting CBP commissioner since Jan. 20. Prior to his nomination to commissioner of the nation’s largest law enforcement agency by the Trump administration, McAleenan had already served as deputy commissioner of CBP since November 2014. 
   He has also been out front meeting with industry associations, and listening to and addressing their myriad questions and concerns regarding cross-border trade procedures and regulations, implementation of the Automated Commercial Environment, and facilitation and compliance toward increasing volumes of e-commerce shipments.
   However, members of the Senate Finance Committee made it clear that they expect CBP, under McAleenan’s leadership, to fully implement and use the enforcement tools in the 2016 Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act. They particularly want CBP to turn up the heat on stopping imports made with forced or slave labor, blocking importers who cheat antidumping and countervailing duties, and sifting out illicit opioid shipments, such as Fentanyl, hidden in parcels.
   Wyden said he’s concerned that the Trump administration views trade enforcement as an “afterthought.”
   “The White House seems a lot more focused on throwing money at a border patrol army and prototypes for a border wall that may never get built,” he said. “Trade enforcement is going to fall by the wayside and jobs will disappear if the administration stays on this course.”
   McAleenan said in his testimony that despite CBP’s already “strong foundation of legal authorities, operational capabilities, and mission-focused culture” that “much more needs to be done to enhance its trade facilitation and enforcement, counterterrorism, and border security missions.”
   He added that “CBP must continue to innovate to accomplish its complex and critical tasks and to recruit and sustain the world-class workforce it needs.”