The Peru Gazette

From the Office of Congressman Bill Owens

WASHINGTON—Yesterday, with the House’s passage of a compromise omnibus appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2014, Representatives Bill Owens and Peter Welch declared victory over a proposal to study the implementation of a land border crossing fee, something they believe would kill jobs in New York and Vermont and waste taxpayer money.

Representative Owens, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, wrote the amendment to ban the study of a border fee. “Canada is the nation’s largest trading partner and New York is a top destination for Canadian tourists. We don’t need a taxpayer-funded study to tell us that charging a land border crossing fee is a bad idea,” Representative Bill Owens said. “I am pleased our colleagues in congress listened and adopted our amendment to kill this study. I thank Congressman Welch for working with me to get the job done.” 

“Long lines at the border are harming the important economic relationship between Vermont and Canada,” Representative Peter Welch said. “The last thing we need is a border crossing fee that will make matters even worse. I’m proud to have worked with Rep. Owens to put this bad idea to rest.”  

In its FY2014 budget request, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) included a proposal to study the viability of land border crossing fee. In April, Rep. Welch and Rep. Owens urged then-Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano to abandon the proposal.

In June, Rep. Owens wrote an amendment that banned the expenditure of public money on a border-fee-collection study, the first step towards the fee’s implementation. That measure was included in the omnibus appropriations bill, which passed in the House yesterday. Pending the Senate’s passage of the measure and the President’s signing it into law, the Owens-authored and Welch-supported amendment will become public law.