Cord Byrd: “the Murray amendment included in the manager's package provides $1 million for the Ports and Waterways Safety Systems…”

“the Murray amendment included in the manager's package provides $1 million for the Ports and Waterways Safety Systems, PAWSS, which is the Coast Guard's program to improve waterway safety. The $1 million would continue efforts of the Coast Guard to upgrade technology at their Vessel Traffic Systems, VTS, which are located at nine U.S. ports. The amendment includes an offset of $1 million from the Coast Guard's Defense Messaging System Implementation. amendment no. 1357 On page 75, between lines 5 and 6, insert the following: Sec. 616 (a) Congress finds that-- (1) emergency responders are the first line of defense in protecting our Nation against terrorist attacks; (2) the Department of Homeland Security uses population as a factor when allocating grant funding to States and local governments for emergency responders; (3) population plays an important role in both formula and discretionary grants, which are administered by the Department of Homeland Security; (4) the number of people in any city or State often differs from estimates by the Census Bureau; (5) large groups of tourists regularly visit many American cities and states, but are not included in the resident population of these cities and states; and (6) the monetary needs of emergency responders are directly related to the amount of people they are responsible to protect.”