President Bush signed a bill Friday to improve safety at U.S. ports, depriving Democrats of an issue they had been using against Republicans in advance of next month’s election.
“The Safe Port Act will strengthen physical security measures at our ports by helping us harness the power of technology,” Bush said at a bill signing ceremony in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. “America has the best technology in the world, and with this bill, we’ll apply that technology to make our ports the safest in the world.”
For months, Democrats have been pointing out that most of the 11 million shipping containers that enter the U.S. each year are not inspected for chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.
“We still have not done what we need to do to protect our ports,” Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., said in August.
But on Friday, even Democrats praised the president for signing a bill that requires the installation of radiation-detection machines at 22 of America’s busiest U.S. ports before 2008. These Democrats included Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, who was part of a bipartisan group of lawmakers flanking Bush at the signing ceremony.
“Tonight, for the first time in many years, I’m going to sleep well,” Murray said. “The president has signed into legislation a law that means we are now going to start making progress in ensuring that every container that comes into our ports across this country, we know what’s in it, and we know that it’s been secured.”
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, pointed out that the bill contains a provision that requires the Department of Homeland Security to establish protocols for reopening ports and resuming trade in the event of a terrorist attack.
“We know that an attack on a portwould not only cause tremendous loss of life, but it would also bring our economy to a standstill,” said Collins, who co-sponsored the bill. “Right now, the federal government does not have a plan for resuming trade. This bill will ensure that that plan is formulated.”
The bill also contained an unrelated measure that bans online gamblers from using credit cards, checks and electronic bank transfers to place wagers and pay off losses.
