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Conference Report on H.R. 4954, Safe Port Act

By: Ed Markey
By: Ed Markey
Date: Sept. 29, 2006
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: National Security Infrastructure


CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 4954, SAFE PORT ACT -- (House of Representatives - September 29, 2006)

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Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Mississippi, and I thank him for his excellent work on that legislation.

I would say that the gentlewoman made a fine point here. The Democrats waited for days to find out what was in this bill as the Republicans deliberated by themselves. Finally it comes back over, and we learn what they included.

Did it have anything on rail and rapid transit security? No. Did it have something on moving hazardous materials in a way that got them around densely populated areas? No. Did it have anything to do with ensuring that we screen for nuclear bombs on ships before they came into the ports of the United States? No.

But what did they include? Well, they included an Internet gambling bill. Now, you would think given the fact that it was a port bill, you would think they would have something in it on riverboat gambling. But, no, nothing even on that.

So, ladies and gentlemen, what they have produced is a fine piece of political pork that the Republican Party in secret has put together. Meantime, al Qaeda has their number one objective in the world still undealt with by the Republicans, and that is obtaining a nuclear weapon out of the former Soviet Union, bringing it to a port in the world, placing it in a container on that ship, bringing the ship into a port in the United States, and then detonating that nuclear bomb before it is ever taken off the ship. And the Republicans in this bill, do they require that there be screening for nuclear bombs before they leave for the United States? No.

So, ladies and gentlemen, this bill on the central issue is a failure. The number one threat to our security, a nuclear bomb in a container on a ship, no requirement at all for the screening before it comes to our port. They have the screening after the nuclear bomb reaches the port in the United States. By then it is too late.

So, ladies and gentlemen, it is like instead of buying a dog, they put up a ``beware of dog'' sign. So when the bomb has reached the port of New York or Boston or L.A., the only thing that will be there is ``beware of dog.'' They refuse to put up the protection.

Vote ``no'' on this terrible bill.

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