Congress approves ACE funding, but Clinton vetoes bill

By Staff -- Logistics Management, 11/1/2000

Two years of lobbying by U.S. importers finally paid off when the U.S. Senate passed legislation that included funding for the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), the U.S. Customs Service's information-systems plan. The original legislation authorizing the funds, the Treasury-Postal Service Appropriations bill (H.R. 4635), had been shot down in the Senate but was folded into the Legislative Branch Appropriations Conference Report (H.R. 4516), which passed by a vote of 58 to 37 in October. The bill was sent to President Clinton for his signature, but he vetoed it on Oct. 30.

The veto was aimed at a rider to H.R. 4516 that included the repeal of the federal telephone excise tax. The president had said that he might veto the bill because of that provision.

The presidential veto does not mean all hope for ACE funding is lost. At press time, Congress was still in session and H.R. 4516 was one of several appropriations bills that had not yet been passed.

The bill could be salvaged if Congress were to override the veto, although it was unclear whether there would be enough votes to do so. Congress also could choose to remove the offending provision and send it back to the president for his signature. But that would create an opportunity for further modification of the bill, which would almost surely lead to more debate and delay, and could even prevent passage before Congress adjourned.

If the bill should pass with its customs funding provisions intact, it would authorize a total of $258.4 million for customs automation. Of that amount, "not less than" $130 million is earmarked for the Automated Commercial Environment. Another $5.4 million is slated for the International Trade Data System (ITDS), a program that will allow government agencies to share trade data. The balance is for maintaining and upgrading existing systems.

That ACE funding got as far as it did was due to the work of several organizations representing importers, says Robin Lanier, a lobbyist for both the Joint Industry Group and the Coalition for Customs Automation Funding. Lanier also credits Reps. Jim Kolbe (R.-Ariz.) and Steny Hoyer (D.-Md.) and Sen. Ben Campbell (R.-Colo.) as having played vital roles in achieving authorization.

In addition, U.S. Customs' compliance with the General Accounting Office's recommendations for overhauling ACE development plans were critical to gaining approval of the bill, Lanier notes.

If H.R. 4516 is not signed into law during this session, a fundamental change in legislators' understanding of customs issues could make things easier the next time around. "We started out getting people's attention by talking about computer brownouts and disruptions," Lanier reports. "Now we've moved to a more sophisticated understanding by Congress of the importance of Just-in-Time delivery and the important role the Customs Service plays at our borders. That's enormously gratifying."