Congress sends port security bill to president

Congress sends port security bill to president    Congress late Friday passed a comprehensive port security bill after House and Senate conferees ironed out discrepancies between their two competing versions of the legislation and agreed to drop non-port related sections dealing with rail, chemical, highway and mass transit security. The measure now goes to President Bush for his signature.
   The Security and Accountability for Every Port Act (SAFE) enshrines into law most of the security programs underway within the Department of Homeland Security, including the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, the Container Security Initiative, installation of radiation portal monitors at major ports, and development of the “Green Lane” incentive for approved shippers who implement controls throughout their supply chain. And it increases the amount of money available for port security grants.
   The bill calls for minimum security standards for containers, including electronic container security devices specifications for which are left to the DHS to determine. More than 11 million containers are expected to enter the United States in 2006.
   It also establishes an Office of Cargo Security Policy to coordinate policy, procedures and regulation within the department and its agencies, as well as Joint Operations Centers to coordinate regional responses to a terrorist incident, high threat level or natural disaster.
   DHS is also instructed to move ahead with pilot projects in the works to test the real-world capability of inspecting 100 percent of containers arriving via truck at three foreign ports using integrated radiation detection and imaging machines at entry gates. A separate program is to evaluate methods for inspecting empty containers at domestic ports.
   Passage of the bill comes one month before congressional elections and allows lawmakers to show voters that they took steps to address gaps in port security, which were highlighted earlier this year by the public debate over a Dubai-government owned company acquiring leases to operate U.S. marine terminals. Democrats were prepared to use a stalled bill against Republicans to show the lack of urgency about homeland security, and some are complaining that Republicans neglected to fund security for other transport sectors.
   The legislation was approved by a voice vote in the Senate and by a 409-2 vote in the House.
   The American Association of Port Authorities praised Congress for passing the SAFE Act, which promises $400 million in federal grants for each of the next five years.
   The bill “enhances port and cargo security at home, strengthens the lone federal program that helps America’s ports harden their facilities against terrorism, and reduces the potential for terrorists or weapons to reach our shores via maritime commerce,” said Kurt Nagle, AAPA’s president and chief executive officer.
   But Nagle said, “for this upcoming fiscal year, dramatic differences remain between the amount Congress recommended for port security and what it will actually fund.”
   Under the DHS’s fiscal year 2007 appropriations bill just passed by Congress, Nagle said only about half of the port security grant funding authorized in the bill — $210 million of the $400 million — was actually appropriated. The $210 million is an increase of $35 million from fiscal year 2006.
   He said secure U.S. public port facilities must be made a higher priority within the federal budget.
   The AAPA said Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.V., proposed an amendment to the DHS appropriations bill that would have provided an additional $190 million from unspent fiscal 2006 funds. Losing by one vote, a House-Senate conference committee decided to drop that amendment from the final bill.
   At the same time, the House and Senate passed a conference report on the DHS Appropriations bill, providing the department $34.8 billion in discretionary spending. Congress included $2.7 billion more for the department than the president requested.
   The legislation raises funding for the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, which is coordinating research, development and deployment of fixed, mobile and handheld radiation detection technology at ports of entry and other locations to prevent attacks with radiation-laced dirty bombs or small atomic weapons.
   The bill includes first-time authority for DHS to set security standards at chemical plants and evaluate which facilities have adequate protection and require upgrades at high-risk facilities.