Election realities to ice port security bill, maritime official says

Election realities to ice port security bill, maritime official says    Despite the momentum of a unanimous vote, port and cargo security legislation passed by the U.S. Senate last week is not likely to be signed into law before the November congressional elections, said Christopher Koch, president of the World Shipping Council.
   The bill must still go to a conference committee to iron out differences with the version passed by the House last summer, but there is little time remaining in the session because Congress will soon break camp so legislators can return home to campaign.
   The only way the port security legislation could make it President Bush’s desk to be signed is if the House agrees simply agrees to accept the Senate version, said Koch, head of the trade association representing international liner carriers serving the U.S. market. Although the two bills are similar in many ways, most political observers view that scenario as unlikely because members of the House will want to leave their mark on the legislation.
   “And the Democrats are not interested in giving a signing ceremony to the president before an election,” Koch said during an address at the Maritime Security Expo in New York.
   Congress probably will probably deal with the legislation when it returns for a lame duck session after the election to complete unfinished business, Koch said, adding that it should pass quickly because there are few items of controversy between the House and Senate bills.
   The port security legislation endorses the Department of Homeland Security’s port security strategy, and provides extra resources and encouragement to the administration to improve existing programs for supply chain security partnerships with industry, overseas inspection of suspicious containers and deployment of radiation detection machines. It also pushes for the launch of a transportation worker credential program, pilot tests in several foreign ports of an integrated imaging and radiation detection system to scan containers for nuclear weapons or dirty bombs, and a host of other actions.