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. REED. Mr. President, tonight the Senate is voting on the port security conference report. While the conference report contains important provisions to secure our Nation's ports, I am disappointed that the House of Representatives refused to accept the Senate bill's transit and rail security provisions. This is particularly troubling in light of the inclusion in the conference report of extraneous matter not debated by the full Senate and not related to our nation's security.
While our Nation acted quickly after 9/11 to secure our airports and airplanes, major vulnerabilities remain in maritime and surface transportation. As the 9/11 Commission concluded ``opportunities to do harm are as great, or greater, in maritime and surface transportation'' as in commercial aviation. Unfortunately, this conference report will leave our surface transportation system vulnerable.
Transit agencies around the country have identified in excess of $6 billion in transit security needs--$5.2 billion in security-related capital investment and $800 million to support personnel and related operation security measures to ensure transit security and readiness.
The Senate-passed port security bill contained a provision I coauthored with Banking Committee Chairman Shelby, Ranking Member Sarbanes, and Senator Allard that authorized a needs-based grant program within the Department of Homeland Security to identify and address the vulnerabilities of our Nation's transit systems. The Senate bill provided $3.5 billion over the next 3 years to transit agencies for projects designed to resist and deter terrorist attacks, including surveillance technologies, tunnel protection, chemical, biological, radiological, and explosive detection systems, perimeter protection, training, the establishment of redundant critical operations control systems, and other security improvements.
Transit is the most common, and most vulnerable, target of terrorists worldwide, whether it is Madrid, London, Moscow, Tokyo, Israel, or Mumbai. According to a Brookings Institution study, 42 percent of all terrorist attacks between 1991 and 2001 were directed at mass transit systems.
Transit is vital to providing mobility for millions of Americans and offers tremendous economic benefits to our Nation. In the United States, people use public transportation over 32 million each weekday compared to two million passengers who fly daily. Paradoxically, it is the very openness of the system that makes it vulnerable to terrorism. When one considers this and the fact that roughly $9 per passenger is invested in aviation security, but less than one cent is invested in the security of each transit passenger, the need for an authorized transit security program is clear.
Transit agencies and the women and men who operate them have been doing a tremendous job to increase security in a post 9/11 world, but there is only so much they can do with the very limited resources at their disposal. Our Nation's 6,000 transit agencies face a difficult balancing act as they attempt to tighten security and continue to move people from home to work, school, shopping, or other locations efficiently and affordably. This conference report should have provided for these workers and transit riders' safety and it did not.
With energy prices taking a larger chunk out of consumers' pocketbooks, public transit offers a solution to our national energy crisis and dependence on foreign oil. But, more Americans will not use transit unless they feel safe. When it comes to protecting our homeland against a terrorist attack, we can and must do more to fortify our ports, our transit systems, and our rail system. Our priorities must be to ensure that we are doing all we can to protect our most important asset our--citizens. Unfortunately, this conference report falls short by failing to include rail and transit security, and once again the Republican-led Congress has missed an important opportunity.
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