No urgency to confirm Basham as CBP commissioner
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have taken turns bashing the Department of Homeland Security for not moving fast enough to develop programs to protect the United States from a terrorist attack, but Congress appears to be in no rush to approve Ralph Basham to fill a critical position at a time when concerns about port security are running high.
President Bush named Secret Service Director Ralph Basham to be commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, and sent the nomination to the Senate for review Jan. 31. CBP has been without a permanent leader since Robert C. Bonner left office in late November. Deborah Spero, a career civil servant, is serving as acting commissioner.
Even though Basham is well known on Capitol Hill and has helped protect the president and other top U.S. officials, his nomination is not on the fast track and could be further slowed by split jurisdiction among several committees.
The Senate Finance Committee is still collecting financial disclosure and other documents and has not scheduled a hearing to consider Basham’s nomination, a spokeswoman said. Meanwhile, the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Commerce and Judiciary committees have all requested that the nomination be referred to them after the Finance Committee votes on it, according to a Senate aide close to the situation who is not authorized to speak for attribution.
There is some debate about why the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee is asserting jurisdiction over Basham. Commerce has oversight of the Coast Guard and marine transportation, but not cargo imports and exports regulated by CBP.
The Finance Committee plays a role because of CBP’s revenue function collecting duties and customs fees for the treasury. The Judiciary Committee oversees immigration, an area enforced by CBP’s Border Patrol.
Aside from turf battles over DHS that were never settled in the last round of Senate reorganization, senators may be applying extra scrutiny to Basham because of criticism that previous Bush appointees such as Michael Brown at FEMA and others were confirmed without a rigorous review.
Port and cargo security problems have received renewed attention in the wake of the controversy over the Dubai government’s effort to buy rights to operate cargo terminals in the United States. A flurry of bills has been introduced in both houses and comprehensive legislation dealing with maritime security is expected to be passed this spring. The CBP commissioner is responsible for implementing cargo inspection, radiation detection and supply chain security programs such as the Container Security Initiative, Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism and Free and Secure Trade Lanes.