HOLLINGS DEFENDS NEED FOR PORT SECURITY USER FEES

HOLLINGS DEFENDS NEED FOR PORT SECURITY USER FEES    Sen. Ernest F. Hollings, D-S.C., chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, defended the country’s need to pay for enhanced port security through user fees.
   Hollings remarks were made after an Oct. 2 press conference during which Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., referred to Hollings and his user fee proposal as a barrier to moving the port security legislation forward.
   “Nothing could be further from the truth,” Holling said. “A guaranteed funding source is the difference between a port security system that is comprehensive, aggressive and effective and one that is ad hoc, piecemeal and ineffective.”
   Lott reportedly said that the port security legislation should move forward now and the government could worry about paying for it “later.”
   “To date, only the Senate has offered a proposal to resolve the critical funding issues,” Hollings said. “Given our deepening federal budget deficit and the administration’s apparent unwillingness to commit to the necessary funding, we offered a straight-forward user fee — nearly identical to that in the aviation security laws — to pay for port security.”