APPROPRIATIONS BILL CONTAINING ACE FUNDING APPROVED BY SENATE

APPROPRIATIONS BILL CONTAINING ACE FUNDING APPROVED BY SENATE    The U.S. Senate passed legislation Thursday which contains the first installment of funds for Customs’ future computer system.
   The Treasury-Postal Service Appropriations bill (H.R. 4635), which was defeated earlier by the Senate because of non-Customs-related issues, was approved as part of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Conference Report by a vote of 58 to 37.
   The bill includes $130 million for Customs’ Automated Commercial Environment, $123 million in maintenance funds for the agency’s current system, the Automated Commercial System, and $5.4 million for the International Trade Data System, the future front-end of ACE.
   “It’s a great step forward and gives us a chance to move forward with the modernization effort,” said S.W. “Woody” Hall Jr., assistant commissioner of information and technology at Customs. “We feel good about it.”
   The industry, which has lobbied Congress for the past two years to fund ACE, applauds the Senate’s action to approve the funding.
   “It’s one more hurdle that’s been passed,” said Alan Atkinson, spokesman for the Joint Industry Group in Washington. “We hope that we’re finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
   The bill will next be sent to the White House for the President’s approval.