More Border Patrol Agents Now Act of 2006

MORE BORDER PATROL AGENTS NOW ACT OF 2006 -- (House of Representatives - September 26, 2006)

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Mr. WAXMAN. Mr. Speaker, border security is an issue of great concern to all Americans. It deserves serious deliberation and congressional consideration. Unfortunately, the bill before us now, H.R. 6160, the More Border Patrol Agents Now Act, was introduced yesterday and is being considered on the floor today without benefit of committee action by either the Homeland Security or Government Reform Committee.

H.R. 6160 would grant the Department of Homeland Security the ability to award Border Patrol agents lump-sum recruitment and retention bonuses of up to 25 percent of annual pay. It would also allow the Department to rehire retirees. The Department can already do this under current Governmentwide authorities as long as it works with the Office of Personnel Management, OPM, the agency which best understands hiring needs.

Giving the Department this direct authority to circumvent OPM may or may not be a good idea. Appropriate action by the committees of jurisdiction would have allowed us to determine whether or not this independent authority is needed.

In short, we should not view this bill as a magic bullet to cure the ills of the Border Patrol. The Director of the OPM already has the authority to authorize the head of an agency to pay these bonuses. So the only real effect of this measure will be to cut the Federal agency with the most expertise in Federal personnel issues out of the decisionmaking process with regard to the Border Patrol.

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