When approved, the SAFE Port Act will make progress toward protecting the physical infrastructure of our seaports as well as our national economy which is so clearly dependent on the commercial shipping business.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
A ship in port is safe, but that's not what ships are built for.
The Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act is an important authorization for our country and for our citizens, as we have seen so vividly in the last few weeks.
I represent the Port of Philadelphia, and I know firsthand the important role that ports play in the national and global economy. I have also seen how simple accidents can have devastating impacts on the port system.
Ensuring ports are dredged is essential to securing America's place in global trade.
Port Security is one of our weakest security links, and it must be one of our highest priorities.
Our ports are a vital link in national security and it is extremely dangerous to be considering their sale to the United Arab Emirates government.
In South Texas, we understand how vital port security is and we fear the day a weapon of mass destruction could be brought into a U.S. port in a container and cause hundreds of thousands of casualties.
Michael Chertoff and the Department of Homeland Security, they have the primary responsibility of ensuring that our ports are secure.
It is not the going out of port, but the coming in, that determines the success of a voyage.
We know that the most fundamental responsibility of our Federal Government is to ensure the safety of its people and to protect and ensure our National security. And clearly port security has been left in limbo.