Senators request $400 million for port security grants

Senators request $400 million for port security grants    Sens. Susan Collins and Joseph Lieberman asked President Bush on Friday to include $400 million in port security grants in the administration's 2008 fiscal year budget request, as authorized by the SAFE Port act he signed into law last month.
   Marine terminals, port authorities and shippers with marine infrastructure can apply for grants to help pay for security improvements.
   Congress appropriated $210 million for port security grants in 2007 and $175 million in 2006.
   'This is a major commitment of resources, but it is fully proportional to what is at stake, and a priority that we can no longer continue to ignore,' said Collins, R-Maine, and Lieberman, D-Conn., in a letter to the president that was released by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.