News Release
FOR RELEASE - September 30, 2006
Contact: Aaron Ellis, aellis@aapa-ports.org
703-684-5700
American Association of Port Authorities
Phone: (202) 792-4033
www.aapa-ports.org
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Sept. 30, 2006) – The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) today highly praised Congress for passing the Security and Accountability for Every (SAFE) Port Act of 2006, the first legislation of its kind to authorize an annual federal funding level to help secure United States ports against terrorism. The bill, H.R. 4954, calls for $400 million in federal Port Security Grant (PSG) funding for each of the next five years to help increase security in the maritime transportation system.
“In this important new legislation, members of several House and Senate committees took components of the GreenLane Maritime Cargo Security Act (S. 2459), the SAFE Port Act (H.R. 4954) and the Public Transportation Terrorism Prevention Act of 2006 (S. 2791) to develop a bill that enhances port and cargo security at home, strengthens the lone federal program that helps America’s ports harden their facilities against terrorism, and reduces the potential for terrorists or weapons to reach our shores via maritime commerce,” said Kurt Nagle, AAPA’s president and CEO.
Mr. Nagle recognized Representatives Dan Lungren (R-CA) and Jane Harman (D-CA) for introducing and moving their version of the port security legislation through the House. He credited Senators Susan Collins (R-ME; chair, Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Government Affairs) and Patty Murray (D-WA), together with Senators Ted Stevens (R-AK) and Daniel Inouye (D-HI), of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, as the key drivers for negotiating a similar bill in the Senate.
"By passing the SAFE Port Act, we’re gratified that Congress recognizes it needs to have a greater financial partnership with U.S. ports to pay for critical seaport security measures,” said Mr. Nagle. “Yet, for this upcoming fiscal year, dramatic differences remain between the amount Congress recommended for port security and what it will actually fund.”
Referencing the Department of Homeland Security’s fiscal year 2007 appropriations bill just passed by Congress, Mr. Nagle said only about half of the PSG funding authorized in the SAFE Port Act ($210 million of the $400 million) was actually appropriated. He stated that helping secure U.S. public port facilities—which handle 99 percent of the country’s overseas imports and exports—must be made a higher priority within the federal budget.
In an effort to match actual funding with the amount authorized for port security grants in H.R. 4954, Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) proposed an amendment to the DHS appropriations bill that would have provided an additional $190 million from unspent FY 2006 funds. Losing by one vote, a House-Senate conference committee decided to drop that amendment from the final bill.
Mr. Nagle said that AAPA and its member ports are “troubled” that Congress decided to appropriate only about half of the money it authorized for port facility security grants for fiscal 2007. He added that port security was considered a top priority by both the Administration and Congress a few months ago during consideration of the Dubai Ports World/P&O transaction, but they missed an opportunity to make a real difference on the issue with the DHS appropriations legislation.
“Considering the high cost of implementing port security, including the new Transportation Workers Identification Credential (TWIC) system announced last spring, ports more than ever need a greater federal partnership in their efforts to harden their facilities against terrorism," stated Mr. Nagle.
Further evidencing the shortfall in port security grant funding, DHS this week announced the recipients of the FY 2006 Port Security Grant program, which will distribute $168 million to 50 port areas to help pay for security enhancements like landside surveillance, access controls, interoperable communications and systems to prevent and detect improvised explosive device attacks. AAPA’s President Nagle noted that needs identified in PSG applications this round alone totaled more than $550 million, and a number of significant security improvement projects at America’s ports received no funding. “To date, due to limited appropriations levels, only about 20 percent of security needs identified in the grant applications have been able to be funded,” he added.
“It’s important that the next annual spending bill provide the full $400 million for the Port Security Grant program to help ports pay to install TWIC card readers and other terrorism prevention programs at their facilities,” remarked Mr. Nagle. “AAPA will continue to work with members of Congress to achieve this funding level.”
Additional Background
SAFE Port Act of 2006
In addition to recommending $400 million a year in federal funding for the PSG program, the SAFE Port Act of 2006:
The SAFE Port Act conference report is available at: /files/PDFs/HR4954%5Fconferencereport%5F09%2D29%2D06.pdf
Department of Homeland Security FY 2007 Appropriations Bill
The DHS appropriations bill, in addition to funding the PSG program, also makes policy changes to the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative program, which AAPA and others involved in the cruise industry supported. The bill extends the deadline for implementation until DHS and the State Department certify that they have taken certain actions, including requiring a uniform implementation date for all modes of entry and allowing a passport card to be used for certain land and sea entries. DHS had planned to require maritime (other than ferry) and air passengers within the Western Hemisphere to carry passports by Jan. 8, 2007. Homeland Security now has until June 1, 2009, to issue uniform regulations.
