HOUSTON (AP) — The Port of Houston will need increased funding to ward off the threat of drug trafficking and terrorism as it prepares for an influx of ship traffic after the Panama Canal expansion is completed next year, a bipartisan congressional delegation said Wednesday.

After meeting with top port officials and getting a look at the helicopters, boats and vessels used to protect the 52-mile port, Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said he would fight to reinstate about $16 million in security grant funding that was cut amid the recession.