MARCH 2, 2022 – ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA – The Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), the voice of the third-party logistics (3PL) industry, released the following statement following the House Homeland Security Committee’s bipartisan approval of H.R. 6826, the “C-TPAT Pilot Program Act of 2022.” TIA fully supports this legislation and applauds the Committee for its passage.
On behalf of the TIA and our almost 2,000 member companies, we are excited to have movement on a piece of legislation that is crucial to our membership base. This policy is common sense, long overdue, and should be quickly put on President Biden’s desk for signature.
“In the aftermath of 9/11, the Federal government, specifically the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) rightfully moved to harden our supply chain,” said TIA President & CEO Anne Reinke. “Unfortunately, during the implementation, TIA’s core membership was wrongly excluded from this program; H.R. 6826 will finally allow some of our members to be included.”
The problem is that non-asset-based 3PLs have been dealing with a competitive disadvantage for almost 20 years because of a willful decision by the Federal government excluding DOT-licensed property brokers. The legislation, which now has passed committee and is before the entire House of Representatives, creates a pilot program for 10 DOT-licensed property brokers and 10 warehouse entities to be C-TPAT certified to add value to the larger program.
TIA Vice President of Government Affairs Chris Burroughs further noted, “TIA is grateful for Representatives Slotkin, Miller-Meeks, Luria, and Womack for their leadership to address the issue that CBP created and start to change the status quo which has hurt 3PLs in their respective states.” TIA members are ready to get off the sideline and support C-TPAT with their enrollment. This legislation will increase jobs, increase business, and improve national security. H.R. 6826 is the companion bill to S. 2322, which passed unanimously in the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and awaits a vote on the Senate floor.