The Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA) released the following statement following the Senate Homeland and Governmental Affairs Committee bipartisan approval of a TIA priority, S.2322, the “C-TPAT Pilot Program Act of 2021.” 

On behalf of the TIA and our 1,800 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.

President and CEO, Anne Reinke said this on the vote, “In the aftermath of 9/11, the Federal government, specifically the U.S. Customs and Border Protection rightfully moved to harden our supply chain. Unfortunately, during the implementation, TIA’s core membership was wrongly excluded from this program; S.2322 will finally allow some of our members to be included.”

Non-asset-based 3PL’s have been dealing with a competitive disadvantage for more than 10 years because of a willful decision by the Federal government. The legislation before the Senate now creates a pilot program for 10 DOT licensed property brokers and 10 warehousing entities to be C-TPAT certified to add value to the larger program.

Vice-President of Government Affairs, Chris Burroughs said this on the committee mark-up, “TIA is grateful for Senators John Cornyn, Robert Menendez, Tim Scott and Tom Carper in their leadership to see the issue that CBP created and start to change the status quo which has hurt 3PL’s 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 increase national security.