Bart Stupak: “I thank both the subcommittee Chair and ranking member for taking care of this matter for me as I was trying to get here…”

“I thank both the subcommittee Chair and ranking member for taking care of this matter for me as I was trying to get here from a committee as we are dealing with high fuel prices, energy prices, gas prices. I just did not make it in time, but I appreciate the assistance of the ranking member and chairman. Mr. Chairman, I rise to offer an amendment that would add to the Congress's efforts to strengthen communications interoperability. The SAFE Port Act creates a new Port Security Grant Program. These grants may be awarded for twelve different purposes, including purchasing equipment and creating threat information systems. My amendment makes two simple improvements to the bill. The amendment requires that communications equipment authorized for purchase under the Grant Program is interoperable with local, state, and federal governments. Second, my amendment would require that the ``mechanisms for sharing terrorism threat information'' funded under these grants are also interoperable with local, state, and federal agencies. We know that the problem of interoperability has plagued this country for too long. The lack of interoperability contributed to the death of 121 firefighters on September 11th. It contributed to the chaos after Hurricane Katrina. Our ports are vulnerable targets for attack.…”