Senators demanded answers and accountability for delays in delivering overtime pay to the men and women securing Arizona’s border
WASHINGTON – Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema and Republican Senator James Lankford (Okla.) – Chair and Ranking Member of the Border Management Subcommittee respectively – urged U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack to swiftly implement the overtime pay for senior Border Patrol Agents the senators secured in the annual bipartisan defense law.
Currently, Border Patrol Agents do not receive overtime pay commensurate with other federal law enforcement personnel. Sinema and Lankford expressed their concern over delays at the National Finance Center (NFC), housed within the Department of Agriculture, in implementing this key provision of the National Defense Authorization law for Fiscal Year 2024, which was signed into law in December 2023.
“Our Border Patrol Agents, who have performed the thankless yet heroic job of managing the crisis at our border for years, deserve to be compensated for their sacrifices, and it is profoundly unacceptable to allow bureaucracy to stand in the way of our national security,” wrote the senators.
The senators demanded answers and accountability from Secretary Vilsack, questioning what actions have been taken to implement overtime pay, what actions still need to be taken to do so swiftly, how to ensure deficiencies in systems and processes are not repeated, and when Border Patrol Agents can expect to see the new premium pay reflected in their paychecks.
Sinema and Lankford requested a briefing on USDA’s efforts to implement this change no later than June 19, 2024.
Click HERE to read the senators’ letter.