Security and Accountability for Every Port Act

SECURITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY FOR EVERY PORT ACT -- (Senate - September 12, 2006)

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, this morning the Senate is considering a very important bill, the port security bill, which many Members have come to the floor to talk about. I am proud to be an original sponsor of this bill and have been working on it for a number of years; in fact, since five years ago, after September 11, when I was the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee chair. At that time I began to bring stakeholders together to talk about how we can make sure the cargo containers that are coming into this country are secure. It is a very complex issue. It is very difficult to do. We have a tremendous balancing act of making sure that cargo containers are safe when they come into our ports but also that we don't halt our economy as we move forward with this initiative.

I have been very proud to work with a number of Senators in getting us to this point, and I am hoping this bill will move forward in an expeditious manner. Obviously, there will be a number of amendments that come before us, and I look forward to working with other Senators on both sides of the aisle to move them forward.

The bill that is now before the Senate has one major hole. The original bill we have been working on with all of the committees contained a funding source for this bill that some Members had some concerns about. The original bill that we offered had tariff fees as the funding source. The Finance Committee has objected to that. They were concerned about that. I understand that concern. Because of that objection, the bill that has come before us is an important bill, but it lacks the ability to put in place a secure system. It is essentially an empty shell without a funding source.

That is why I have sent to the desk right now an amendment we have been working on together with a number of people to make sure this bill is not just about rhetoric but actually has the funding behind it. If we pass this bill without funding it, we will not have done our job. The amendment I sent to the desk extends two existing Customs user fees for 1 year to fund this bill. Those are fees that are collected today that are going to expire, and all we are doing is extending the collection for an additional year.

The fees we are extending are the merchandise processing fee and the passenger conveyance fee. Extending those for just 1 year will produce close to $2.5 billion in revenue and will importantly provide a dedicated funding stream to pay for the new security initiatives authorized in this bill. By voting for this amendment, this Senate will put money behind the rhetoric of port security. This Senate will put money behind the rhetoric. That is absolutely critical in today's world.

I sit on the Appropriations Committee. I sit on the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee. If we do not put a dedicated source of funding behind this bill, we will simply put port security in contention with all of the other functions of the Department of Homeland Security. We will be looking at Coast Guard money, FBI money, all of the important functions that we need to have within this bill, and port security will be just another issue that doesn't get funded. That is why this funding amendment is so absolutely critical.

The funding for this amendment is going to be used to hire new Customs and Border Protection officers. We can't just simply require our Customs and border officials to do more. They are important positions. Their eyes on the containers and their eyes on the tracking, their eyes on the containers as they are loaded and secured is absolutely critical. Without putting new Customs and Border Patrol agents in place to do the functions we are asking for in this bill, we simply will be sending an empty promise to America.

The funding also will improve the tracking and data collection of every container coming into our ports. That is essential funding which will make sure what we put into those containers is sealed, that someone is watching to make sure they haven't been tampered with, that no one has gotten into them, and that those containers have not gone someplace they are not supposed to. Just putting a tracking seal on it isn't going to make sure we know a container has not been tampered with. We need the personnel in place to do the tracking. That is an important item for funding in this bill. The current bill doesn't have the funding for it. The amendment I am offering will make sure we have eyes on those tracking systems.

The funding will also establish incentive programs for shippers who voluntarily agree to these standards. That is the GreenLane section of this bill that is very important to make sure we know we can reduce the number of cargo containers coming into our ports that could produce a danger for American citizens and for America's economy.

The funding will also establish protocols for the resumption of cargo shipments after a disruptive incident. We put in place a system which assures, should an incident occur on one of our ports, that we have a resumption strategy in place so we know which cargo, which containers can begin to move off of our ports in an expeditious manner. The reason this is so important is if we don't have a protocol in place, it will take weeks, if not months, to get that cargo moving again. That will have a tremendous impact on our economy not just in our port cities but throughout the Nation, as stores would not have any retail goods on their shelves. The economic impact of that has been outlined in this debate, but it would be devastating. We absolutely need to have a protocol in place, and this funding stream will assure it is not just empty rhetoric but actually a funding source.

Finally, the funding is important for authorizing and appropriating money for a grant system for our ports, critical funding infrastructure for gates, for fencing, for making sure people are in place to know who is coming onto our ports--critical infrastructure that we have known is lacking and needs a real funding stream, not just rhetoric saying we are requiring it.

I am very pleased to bring this amendment to the Senate, and I hope it is agreed to overwhelmingly because it is critical that we put in place not just an authorizing bill to tell the American public we are putting in place a port security bill but that we actually have the funding so we can accomplish what I think everyone believes is an important goal.

I have presented this amendment and ask for its consideration.

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