Federal employees of CBP and other partner government agencies who are involved with import compliance should be designated with “excepted” or “essential” employee status in the event of a government shutdown, the head of the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America recently urged Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought.

Such a designation "will help to ensure that unsafe or illegal products are kept out of the U.S. At the same time, domestic manufacturers rely on efficient import supply chains for essential components and materials to maintain productivity. They also require smoothly functioning export processing to meet worldwide demand for their finished products," said the Sept. 17 letter signed by NCBFAA President J.D. Gonzalez.

While inspectors at agencies such as USDA and the Fish and Wildlife Service are user-fee funded and continue to operate in a shutdown, other staff at agencies' headquarters and regional offices who handle document reviews, oversee automated systems and processes and respond to issues also are important, according to Gonzalez. In the last shutdown, a lack of these employees caused congestion at the ports and resulted in demurrage from inefficiencies in processing imports and exports, he said.

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