House OKs Tougher Ports Security Bill
The House overwhelmingly approved legislation Thursday to try and stop nuclear weapons from being smuggled into the country by screening nearly all cargo for radiological materials at seaports. Yet the technology will not be available, the Bush administration said.
The 421-2 vote capped months of election-year debate in Congress over how to make the 140 U.S. seaports less vulnerable to terrorist threats without curbing commerce.
The bill "will improve the safety of the American people and the security of our global supply chain," said Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Calif. He said it "ensures our shores are our last line of defense, not our first."
The Homeland Security Department currently opens for inspections 6 percent of the 11 million cargo containers that enter U.S. seaports annually. Those containers are considered high-risk, said department spokeswoman Leah Yoon, for reasons such as the security of the originating port or a shipper's history.
The department aims to screen 65 percent of goods for radiological materials by October, Yoon said.
In a statement, President Bush described himself as pleased with the bill, which he said will "enhance the security of our nation's ports." But the White House Office of Management and Budget picked apart the $5.5 billion plan, which it said will "have serious resource implications" in putting detectors at 22 major ports by next year, as the legislation requires.
The White House office also termed as unnecessary a $400 million annual grant program over six years to pay for other security measures at ports. The bill does not provide the funds for the added security measures.
A debate over the bill briefly escalated into a shouting match when the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, GOP Rep. Peter King of New York, said his Long Island district lost more 150 residents in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Taking aim at Rep. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., who earlier held up a cargo container's lock to call for stronger security seals, King said, "I don't need visual aids to remind me what happened on September 11."
"There were Bostonians on that plane!" Markey yelled back.
Congress made port security a priority after the fight this year over a Dubai company's purchase of a British company that controlled of some operations at six American ports. The outcry led the Dubai company, DP World, to decide to sell the U.S. operations to an American company.
House Democrats said the legislation does not go far enough to secure ports as they pushed an alternative that would require X-rays for all cargo at foreign ports that is headed to the United States.
Republicans said this requirement would snarl port traffic and stymie the economy because the high-tech X-ray technology needed is not widely available.
"All it takes is one atomic or radiological bomb to make 9-11 look like a firecracker," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y. "If we really want to make this country safer, we must demand that before any container is put on a ship bound for the United States it must be scanned electronically in the foreign port. It's too late if we find a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles or New York."
The bill calls for screening 98 percent of all incoming cargo with the nuclear detectors by Oct. 1, 2007. The measure includes:
Currently, 214 radiological monitors that screen for nuclear materials are installed at U.S. seaports, at an estimated cost of $350,000 each, Yoon said.
The House bill would require port workers to secure ID cards with tamper-resistant digital photographs, something Homeland Security is already doing.
A Senate committee has approved a similar bill that would require Homeland Security to provide nuclear screening and X-ray imaging of cargo at three foreign seaports as a test pilot that could be expanded.
Last month, the Bush administration said it would conduct background checks on the estimated 400,000 port workers to ensure they do not pose a terrorist threat.
Names of employees who work in the most sensitive areas of ports will be matched against government terror watch lists and immigration databases, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said. Additionally, the Homeland Security Department will issue tamper-free identification cards to roughly 750,000 workers, including truckers and rail employees, who have unrestricted access to ports.
The added scrutiny, however, will not immediately include a criminal background check for workers, although Chertoff said that might happen in the future. The Transportation Security Administration, and not the FBI, will conduct the background checks, he said.