David Obey: “Let me simply suggest that that gives me no comfort. The fact is that we have two basic problems with container…”

“Let me simply suggest that that gives me no comfort. The fact is that we have two basic problems with container inspection. The idea behind the new system that the administration is talking about is to see to it that cargo is inspected before it ever leaves the foreign port headed for this country. The problem is that of the major ports that are considered potentially dangerous, we are covering only half of those ports right now with our own inspection personnel in any effective program. And I would point out further that the personnel that we have in these ports are assigned largely on the basis of 6-month temporary duty jobs. That means that just about the time they get to understand the ports that they are working in, they go home. No foreign country is going to waste any time, invest any effort getting to set up a working relationship with people who are going to be gone in 6 months. It would be like us hiring somebody on our staffs and then firing them every 6 months and having to break in a new person. It is a pretty dumb way to do business. So while I have great misgivings about the source of money of the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Millender-McDonald) and I agree with the chairman on that point, I do believe that we need to understand there are massive problems associated with port security, and if we do not do a whole lot more than the budget resolution allows us to do, some day we are going to regret it very much.”