Security and Accountability for Every Port Act--Conference Report

SECURITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY FOR EVERY PORT ACT--CONFERENCE REPORT -- (Senate - September 29, 2006)

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I rise in support of the conference report to accompany H.R. 4954, the SAFE Port Act. This legislation achieves some important objectives that I have been working on for some time.

It will strengthen our port security operations and resources within the United States Customs and Border Protection.

It authorizes and approves current programs for securing our Nation's trade, and it provides direction for further strengthening of these programs as technological advances permit.

It requires our Federal agencies to cooperate and better coordinate their contingency planning in the event there is a security breach. In sum, this critical legislation will empower personnel in the Department of Homeland Security to stay one step ahead of the terrorists who seek to wreak economic havoc and physical destruction on our Nation.

At the same time, this legislation strengthens our Nation's economic security by realigning resources to ensure better efficiency in the administration of customs laws within the United States Customs and Border Protection, as well as trade facilitation functions within the agency and elsewhere in the Department of Homeland Security. Unfortunately, this legislation falls short in one critical area. The Senate-passed bill included robust sections on rail and mass transit security. But objections from the House have prevented us from including those provisions in the conference report.

I find this extremely shortsighted. It demonstrates a troubling lack of leadership. I want to make clear that I strongly supported the Senate-passed provisions on rail and mass transit security, and I strongly oppose their omission from this conference report.

But because this legislation contains so many provisions critical to the security of our Nation, I will support the conference report. It is certainly better than the alternative. I hope my colleagues on the House side realize that we have lost an opportunity here. At a minimum, it would take another several months for us to be in a position to enact rail and mass transit security legislation into law. In the meantime, this important aspect of our Nation's security will not get the rightful attention that it needs.

That being said, this legislation does significantly strengthen our Nation's security. I want to thank my colleagues, particularly the chairmen and ranking members of the Commerce and Homeland Security Committees in the Senate, as well as the chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Homeland Security Committee, Senator Coleman, for their constructive engagement with me and Senator Baucus these past few months. Together we produced a very good bill, much of which is retained in this conference report. I urge its support so that we can get this critical legislation to the President's desk as soon as possible.

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