This bill creates a new 37% fee on remittance transfers sent to certain foreign countries when the transfer provider is a money services business. "Covered countries" are the five countries whose citizens or nationals most often unlawfully entered the United States in the previous fiscal year, as identified by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Fees collected go to the Treasury general fund. The bill establishes two Treasury trust funds: the Border Security State Reimbursement Trust Fund and the Border Security Trust Fund. Each trust fund will receive annual transfers from the general fund equal to 50% of the total remittance fees collected in the prior fiscal year. Both funds may be invested in U.S. interest-bearing obligations, and interest earnings are credited to the funds.
The Reimbursement Fund reimburses border States for border security enforcement expenditures. A border State may apply within 30 days after enactment to submit receipts for eligible expenditures made in the prior fiscal year. Payments are distributed proportionally based on submitted expenditures. Eligible expenditures are those used directly or indirectly to deter unlawful crossings, detect unlawful activity and entry, or gain operational control of the southwest border.
The Security Fund is available to the Secretary of Homeland Security for deploying detection technology along the U.S.-Mexico border, installing physical barriers at the southern border, and paying wages and salaries for U.S. Border Patrol agents. If the combined balances of the two funds exceed $50,000,000,000, amounts above that cap are permanently rescinded and returned to the Treasury general fund for deficit reduction and may not be used as offsets for other spending or revenue changes. The Act and its amendment take effect within 30 days after enactment.
If you send a remittance through a money services business to a covered country, the remittance transfer will include a new fee equal to 37% of the transfer amount. Border States may receive reimbursements for prior-year border security spending by applying and submitting receipts. The federal government will set aside and invest money in two named trust funds for border security uses described in the bill.
Senders of remittances to covered countries will pay the 37% remittance fee when transfers are made through money services businesses. The bill directs the Treasury to transfer amounts equal to 50% of total remittance fees to each of the two trust funds each year, and those funds may be invested in U.S. obligations. No publicly available information on estimated total revenue, program costs, or savings is included in the bill text.
No publicly available information on proponents' public statements is included with the bill text. The bill text creates dedicated funding streams and reimbursement mechanics to support border security operations and to compensate border States for prior expenditures.
No publicly available information on opponents' public statements is included with the bill text. The bill text establishes a large fee on certain remittances and directs those funds to border security uses and state reimbursements, and it places a $50 billion cap with rescission rules on fund balances.