ACE, Imaging Equipment for Vehicle Traffic, Mail Funded in Omnibus Bill

The act that funds the Department of Homeland Security for the rest of the fiscal year provides more than half a billion dollars for more non-intrusive imaging equipment in in-bound lanes at the Mexican border, as well as $6 million for equipment for outbound traffic. It's the single biggest-ticket item that affects trade shipments, but there are many others: $10 million for ACE enhancement that will include post-core development and collections, and $2 million for the Office of Trade for targeting.

In addition to the general screening equipment, Congress allocated $45 million for opioid equipment and $37 million for related staffing at international mail and express consignment facilities, as well as $5.8 million for lab personnel, $2.5 million for field testing equipment, and $1.6 million for support staff. In addition, Congress allocated $15 million for opioid detection technology at ports of entry and $5 million for counter-network operations at CBP's National Targeting Center.

Congress also addressed a few CBP trade policies in the omnibus spending bill. The conference committee asked the Government Accountability Office for a study within 240 days "on the advantages and disadvantages of the current retrospective duty system in comparison to those of a prospective duty system, with the goal of minimizing uncollected duties."