The U.S. Congress and the President did not reach agreement on a budget as of midnight on December 21st, therefore federal government operations are in a partial shutdown. It is not known at this time how long the shutdown will last, but indications are it could last a long while.
According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s March 23, 2018 “Procedures Relating to a Lapse in Appropriations” report nearly eighty-eight percent of DHS employees across the departments shown below will continue to report to work throughout any shutdown period. This is higher than the average seventy-five percent among all federal government functions.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and other departments’ personnel are considered “exempt”, “essential” or “excepted” as defined within the Anti-Deficiency Act (ADA). Over 90% of CBP personnel will remain on the job, this includes both top management down to the inspector levels at the border and port front lines.
CBP indicates that the ports will be staffed with their regular contingent of personnel. Also, the CBP Centers of Excellence and Expertise will be fully staffed.
As for the Participating Government Agencies (PGAs), any with release and hold authority will also be on the job. This includes the Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, Food Safety Inspection Service, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and National Transport and Safety Administration.
CBP is prepared to recall any of its other furloughed employees as required in the case of unforeseen events such as an Automated Commercial Environment outage. CBP is providing an email contact otentrysummary@cbp.dhs.gov to handle questions the trade may have about shutdown impacts. Watch CBP.gov for any further developments. In addition, CBP will conduct 1:00PM EST calls on Monday and Wednesday and for the duration of the shutdown.
Be aware that both Monday and Tuesday (December 24th and 25th) had previously been declared CBP holidays. Therefore, those days will continue to be treated as would normal holidays. See CSMS #18-000751.
It would be wise to stay in communication with your supply chain partners to ensure your goods get through and you are aware of any problems that may occur. Livingston International, as always, will remain diligent in monitoring trade developments and getting that news to our customers and partners.