FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 20, 2013
November 20, 2013
Border Patrol Union Calls Reformed Pay Structure for Agents in Congressional Testimony
(WASHINGTON) - American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd today testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform National Security Subcommittee in support of the Border Patrol Pay Reform Act of 2013 (H.R. 3463), a bill to reform the agents’ pay system for the first time in 40 years.
According to Judd, the new pay system outlined in H.R. 3463 would save up to $1 billion for the taxpayers over a ten-year period while also improving our nation’s border security. In his testimony, Judd also noted that more staffing is needed on our nation’s borders to address the threat of increasingly well-organized, well-funded, and heavily armed drug cartels.
“The primary reason the Agents support the legislation is that it guarantees the manpower we need in the field to accomplish our mission,” said Judd to committee members. “I learned early in my career that manpower and agent safety are linked. It was true when I started 16 years ago. It’s even more true today, with the domination and spread of sophisticated drug cartels on the border.”
If passed, the measure would be the equivalent of hiring 5,000 new Border Patrol Agents, increasing both border security and agent safety. The legislation would guarantee proper staffing and stability at each of the nation’s borders without selectively limiting staffing only to locations with high volumes of illegal activity.
“The current pay system at Border Patrol is broken, and the time has come to do something about it. We believe the passing of this bill is critical to ensuring the protection of our borders and the wellbeing of the dedicated Border Patrol Agents who stand literally on the front lines of our national security,” said AFGE National President J. David Cox, Sr.
AFGE is the exclusive representative of 17,000 Border Patrol Agents nationwide.
Read the testimony here: http://afgeunionblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/judd-testimony.pdf
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