Description:
S. 3047 would direct Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Postal Service, and other federal agencies to collaborate to develop technology to detect certain drugs that enter the United States in the mail. Using information provided by CBP, CBO estimates that it would cost roughly $100 million over the 2019-2021 period to deploy drug detection systems at international mail facilities. The costs of the bill fall within budget function 750 (administration of justice) and are shown in the attached table. Estimated outlays are based on the historical rate of spending for similar programs. Enacting S. 3047 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO estimates that enacting S. 3047 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029. S. 3047 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act. On June 6, 2018, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for several bills addressing the opioid crisis that were ordered reported by the House Committee on Ways and Means on May 16, 2018. One of those bills was H.R. 5788, the Securing the International Mail Against Opioids Act of 2018, which contains a provision similar to S. 3047. CBO’s estimates of the budgetary effects of those provisions are the same.
