Senate rejects port bill amendments

Senate rejects port bill amendments The Senate Wednesday rejected several amendments to a proposed port security bill that will result in radiation monitors being installed at the nation’s 22 largest ports.
   The Associated Press quoted Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, as saying “the amendments were “an interesting hodgepodge of provisions that are irrelevant to the underlying bill.”
   They included proposals for improving safeguards on trains and buses and at chemical plants.
      Democratic leader Henry Reid, who offered some of the amendments, blasted the vote, as “another example of Republicans talking tough about national security, but then failing to do what it takes to keep America safe.”
   A final vote on the bill could come on Thursday.