House Democrats Ask CBP for Briefings on Cargo Screening, Opioid Interdiction, Aluminum Tariffs

In a report accompanying the spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security, House appropriators said they still want a briefing on its efforts to improve automated cargo processing, including scanning at land ports of entry. The report directs the agency to provide the briefing within 60 days of the spending bill's signing. They also asked for a brief within 60 days on how CBP's two-year-old strategy to interdict opioids is going, and what they will do next. They noted that since 2018, Congress has provided more than $200 million in support of interdiction, including money for international mail and consignment facilities, and that it expects CBP and the U.S. Postal Service to have higher capture rates. They also asked for a report within 120 days on whether duties on imported aluminum are being properly assessed when the aluminum "exempt from certain tariffs" is entering the U.S. The report does not say whether they are concerned that aluminum from countries not covered by Section 232 is being wrongly taxed, or whether parties that have exclusions are not receiving the benefits of the exclusions. A press aide did not respond to questions on this part of the report by press time.

The report noted that the House is recommending $10 million more for the Office of Trade than the administration requested. It said that of the $299.7 million for trade enforcement, $9.2 million is "to strengthen enforcement actions and processes that prevent the importation of products made with forced labor."

The Senate has not yet taken up spending bills for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.