WASHINGTON — Congress passed a comprehensive port security bill early Saturday, providing billions of dollars in funding to strengthen the nation’s defenses against a potential terrorist attack on cargo containers entering the United States or at major ports at home and abroad.
The House passed the bill 409-2 and the Senate approved it on a voice vote, shortly before lawmakers left town this weekend to hit the campaign trail for five weeks before the midterm elections on Nov. 7.
The bill, named the Security and Accountability for Every Port Act of 2006, will now go to the President for his signature.
“Strengthening port security is another vital step in guarding against terrorist efforts to take innocent American lives,” said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R., Tenn.), in a statement after the Senate passed the bill on a voice vote.
The U.S. maritime system includes more than 300 sea and river ports with more than 3,700 cargo and passenger terminals. The SAFE Port Act “strengthens cargo security programs, improves security training for port workers, and institutes protocols for reopening ports following a terrorist attack.”
Republicans and Democrats have made national security a campaign issue. The House passed a port security bill in May and the Senate followed with passage of a slightly different bill in September.
The SAFE Port Act, the product of a conference committee reconciling the differences in the House and Senate bills, authorizes $400 million a year over five years in grants for training and other programs at ports. In addition, the bill would authorize $3.4 billion over five years for port security.
It provides funding for a pilot program at three foreign ports to test and establish a screening system for radiation within one year and also requires the 22 major U.S. ports to establish procedures and technology to examine all U.S. containers for radiation by the end of next year.
Retailers and wholesalers that imported $89.2 billion worth of apparel and textiles last year were largely supportive of the legislation and launched an aggressive lobbying campaign against attempts by Democrats to require 100 percent screening in foreign ports of the 11 million containers coming to the U.S. annually, arguing technologies need to undergo more testing and fine-tuning before such a goal can be set.
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Paul Kelly, senior vice president of the Retail Industry Leaders Association, which counts Wal-Mart as a member, said in a statement, “We are still studying the details of the bill passed…but we are pleased that the legislation looks to build on the current supply chain security system that industry stakeholders and the government have worked to develop over the past several years.”
Among the provisions retailers and wholesalers support in the bill is one that enhances the benefits and increases funding for a public-private program known as the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, in which foreign cargo is prescreened before entering the U.S. so that shipments can be expedited.
The C-TPAT program involves some 5,800 companies, who have to meet supply chain security criteria to become participants, including most major U.S. retailers and apparel manufacturers, such as J.C. Penney Co. Inc., Gap Inc., Limited Brands Inc. and Liz Claiborne Inc.