Trent Lott: “I would like to briefly speak in support of this legislation. I come from a coastal area. When I was in the House of…”

“I would like to briefly speak in support of this legislation. I come from a coastal area. When I was in the House of Representatives, I served on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee and was a member of the Commerce Committee. I pay close attention to the maritime industry and what is happening with our ports and our ships and shipping industry. I am very pleased to see this legislation has been brought to the floor. I commend the chairman of the committee, Senator Hollings, and the ranking member, Senator McCain, as well as others who were involved in working through some of the difficulties to produce results. Senator Stevens was involved in that, and Congressman Young on the House side. I had more than one conversation with Senator Thomas and Senators Baucus and Grassley. A lot of people worked to help make the production of this legislation possible. I must say, I am amazed it took that kind of a heave because this is such necessary legislation. We probably could have and should have done it last summer. There is no use reviewing all of what went into that, but there is no doubt in my mind that we need to pay attention to port security. That is a place where we could have vulnerability.”