Steve Cohen: “I am concerned that section 107 of this bill, which lifts the cap on the amount of funds that may be expended on a…”

“I am concerned that section 107 of this bill, which lifts the cap on the amount of funds that may be expended on a customs service program for small airports, could lead to abuse of this program and unfair competition. Under current law, all large airports, such as Bangor International Airport, which are designated ports of entry, must charge passengers $6.50 per ticket to pay for the cost of customs inspection and processing. In 1984, Congress established a program for small airports that could not qualify for port-of-entry status to enable them to provide customs services to international passengers. Passengers arriving at airports that qualify for this program do not pay the $6.50 fee. Instead, a user-fee airport pays a user fee directly to the Customs Service, which goes into an account that pays the salaries of the customs inspector and the cost of customs inspections and other services at the user fee airport. By law, the Secretary of the Treasury may only qualify an airport to participate in this user-fee program upon finding that the volume or value of business cleared through such airport is insufficient to justify the availability of customs services at such airport.”