Extending Limits of U.S. Customs Waters Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1137, I call up the bill (H.R. 529) to extend the customs waters of the United States from 12 nautical miles to 24 nautical miles from the baselines of the United States, consistent with Presidential Proclamation 7219, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Extending Limits of U.S. Customs Waters Act, introduced by my good friend, Representative Mike Waltz. This bill would double the current distance that Customs and Border Patrol can enforce U.S. laws from 12 to 24 nautical miles off the coast of the United States. Congress should pass this legislation to protect America's national security and economic interests.

CBP is responsible for enforcing America's trade laws. With this expanded area of operations, the agency can better protect intellectual property, fight illegal dumping of products, and ensure America is paid the customs revenues we are owed.

Other law enforcement agencies, like the Coast Guard, already operate at the 24-nautical-mile-limit. CBP must be empowered fully to carry out its responsibilities, protect our national security, and enforce our trade laws.

Currently, CBP must rely on Presidential proclamations for legal authority to pursue or board vessels more than 12 nautical miles off our coast. In some cases, courts have created uncertainty by questioning the validity of this authority. Congress can use its legislative power to give the agency more certainty and the ability to operate more effectively in the future.

Making this change will also help keep American families safer. International crime rings smuggle drugs through our sea and airports. In fiscal year 2022, the Air and Marine Operations division of CBP captured hundreds of thousands of pounds of illegal drugs, including over 200,000 pounds of cocaine and 146 pounds of the deadly fentanyl poisoning Americans. More than 80 percent of those drugs were seized on the water.

This bill makes it easier to stop illegal drugs from reaching our border and entering our communities. This bill also makes it easier for us to end the abuses of human trafficking.

It is not just drugs that are smuggled into the United States. Humans are also being trafficked, and oftentimes by sea. By expanding in law the area in which they can operate, CBP agents will have more flexibility to capture and arrest criminals smuggling drugs and people into our country.

This bill won bipartisan approval in the Ways and Means Committee last year because it is a commonsense approach to stopping international crime rings from breaking our laws and harming our communities. It is a change Customs and Border Patrol has asked us for and of which the Biden White House has previously supported.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I have no additional speakers, and I am prepared to close.

Mr. Speaker, this bill helps give Customs and Border Protection the certainty to know that they can enforce U.S. trade laws without fear of their authority being challenged in court.

Allowing our Customs agents the authority to go out 24 miles off the coast is consistent with what both Republican and Democratic Presidents have supported. This bill helps CBP protect the livelihoods of American workers. When foreigners cheat our U.S. trade system and avoid paying the rightful duties they owe, it is American workers and small businesses that suffer.

Improved trade enforcement not only helps our economy, but it will also help save American lives. Too many families know the pain of losing a loved one from a drug like fentanyl that should have never come into our country.

Customs and Border Protection needs the certainty and operational flexibility to catch smugglers before their deadly drugs reach our shore. We need to end the current inconsistency by which Congress has fully authorized the Coast Guard to pursue and board suspicious vessels up to 24 miles off of our coast but has not done the same for CBP.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further proceedings on this question will be postponed.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source