James Oberstar: “Enactment of this Maritime Transportation Security Act, otherwise known as the Port Security bill, will close another…”

“Enactment of this Maritime Transportation Security Act, otherwise known as the Port Security bill, will close another hole in the security network of the United States, and a critical one. We have already dealt effectively with aviation security, and implementation of provisions of that legislation is well underway; but we have 95,000 miles of coastline in the United States. Ninety-five percent of the volume of U.S. international trade, both inbound and outbound, comes by the water. We have to protect that coastline and our ports. Our ports are major cities. Most of our cities were ports before they were cities. America has grown up around the water; 75 percent of the population of this Nation lives along the water, either the inland waterways or the coastal regions of the United States, including the Great Lakes; but we have not adequately protected our ports and our major cities against terrorist acts. This legislation will move us in the right direction.”