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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: pompsander who wrote (749279)	9/14/2006 7:19:16 PM
From: pompsander	Respond to of 769670

Gee....this only took five years to get done. And it isn't done at all! Don't we all feel safer! ______________________ Senate OKs bill to boost port security By Susan Cornwell 34 minutes ago WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted unanimously to strengthen security at American seaports, but refused to set a deadline for overseas scanning of U.S.-bound cargo for nuclear weapons. ADVERTISEMENT The U.S. House of Representatives passed a similar bill in May, and the two chambers must now negotiate a consensus version. Only a fraction of the millions of cargo containers that now enter U.S. ports each year are inspected. That has prompted warnings that sea cargo remains a serious security risk five years after the September 11 attacks. The bill approved by the Senate 98-0 requires the government to finish installing radiation-screening equipment at major U.S. ports by the end of 2007 to detect nuclear or "dirty bombs," which combine conventional explosives and radioactive material. It authorizes some $3.5 billion for port security spending, aides said. But the overwhelming vote masked election-year wrangling of recent days, as each party sought to claim the high ground with voters on the key issue of national security. Provisions to boost rail and mass transit security were added. President George W. Bush praised the bill, saying it would further "our coordination with responsible countries throughout the world" to "help secure the global supply chain and help ensure the smooth flow of commerce into and out of the United States." The Senate, controlled by Bush's Republicans, voted 61-37 earlier to scrap a Democratic proposal for a four-year deadline for scanning all U.S.-bound cargo while still overseas. Such a deadline is also opposed by the shipping industry and the Republican majority in the House. New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record), who sought the deadline, said that it was not enough to install radiation detection devices at home. He said other countries should install scanning systems that capture an image of contents of U.S.-bound container ships to help inspectors spot suspicious cargo. Shipping companies could pay the cost, about $8 per container, Schumer said. "We all know we have to push this outward. If a nuclear weapon (explodes) on a ship in New York, and has not yet been unloaded onto a truck, the same terrible consequences exist for the people of New York," Schumer said. Republicans said the proposal could cause global gridlock of cargo and was impractical. They noted that the legislation already would require such scanning in overseas ports as soon as it is feasible, without setting a time frame. "We have tried very hard in this bill to strike the right balance, make people and ports safer, but we've done it without harming the vital trade that manufacturers, retailers, farmers in this nation depend on," said Sen. Susan Collins (news, bio, voting record) of Maine, a Republican and one of the bill's co-sponsors. The shipping industry prefers the provisions in the Senate bill, which would set up a pilot program at three foreign ports to test the feasibility of overseas scanning. The Senate did approve a Schumer proposal for $500 million in grants for research and development into new technology to detect and prevent nuclear threats to seaports. The ports bill would set up a "green lane" system to expedite cargo from shippers who give the U.S. government detailed information about their security practices. The bill mandates new procedures to help shippers resume trade after an attack and to reopen ports as soon as possible. It would also require background checks on port workers. The port security issue languished in Congress until earlier this year when lawmakers said they had security concerns about an Arab state-owned company, Dubai Ports World, which had bought operations at six major U.S. ports. To quell the uproar, the company said it would sell the U.S. assets it had acquired.

To: pompsander who wrote (749279)	9/14/2006 7:23:09 PM
From: longnshort	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

you were saying?? "Those who doubted whether Iraq or the world would be better off without Saddam Hussein, and those who believe today that we are not safer with his capture, don't have the judgment to be President, or the credibility to be elected President. No one can doubt or should doubt that we are safer -- and Iraq is better -- because Saddam Hussein is now behind bars." Senator John Kerry (Democrat, Massachusetts) Speech at Drake University in Iowa December 16, 2003