Thread: AP: 9-11 security legislation approved

9-11 security legislation approved



By JIM ABRAMS
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Air travelers will be able to feel more assured that there isn't a bomb in the cargo below their feet. People will know that there's less chance a ship entering U.S waters conceals a nuclear device.
Security legislation given overwhelming approval by the House on Friday -- and now heading for President Bush's signature -- carries out major unfulfilled recommendations made by the 9-11 Commission three years ago.

"With this bill," said Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., "we will be keeping our promises to the families of 9-11, we will be honoring the work of the 9-11 Commission and we will be making the American people safer."

The bill passed the House on a 371-40 vote. The Senate approved the measure late Thursday 85-8.

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., who steered the legislation through the Senate with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said that it would "make our nation stronger, our cities and towns more secure and our families safer."

Republicans generally backed the bill, stressing their own administration's success in stopping another major terrorist attack. The bill, said Rep. Peter King of New York, top Republican on the Homeland Security panel, "is another step in the right direction building on the steps of the previous 5 1/2 years."

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said, "These efforts build upon the considerable progress we've made over the past six years."

The bill's completion, six months after the House passed its original version on the first day of the current Congress, was a major victory for Democrats whose other priorities -- immigration, energy and stem-cell research -- have been thwarted by GOP and presidential resistance and House-Senate differences.

The 9-11 Commission in 2004 issued 41 recommendations covering domestic security, intelligence gathering and foreign policy. Congress and the White House followed through on some, including creating a director of national intelligence, tightening land border screening and cracking down on terrorist financing.

Democrats, after taking over control of Congress, promised to make completing the list a top priority. Former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., the vice chairman of the 9-11 Commission, said that with enactment of the bill some 80 percent of the panel's recommendations will have been met. "The bottom line is that the American people will be safer," he said.

The bill is H.R. 1

Online, Congress, thomas.loc.gov

Highlights of 9-11 Commission recommendations bill

The legislation to carry out the national security recommendations of the 9-11 Commission would:

Change the formula for a state security grant program so that more funds go to areas designated as high risk.

Create a new program to fund and promote communications compatibility among local, state and federal officials.

Authorize more than $4 billion for four years for rail, transit and bus security.

Require Homeland Security to screen all cargo on passenger aircraft within three years.

Require the screening of all container ships in foreign ports within five years, but give the Homeland Security secretary authority to delay implementation.

Establish a new electronic travel authorization system to improve security for visitors from countries participating in the visa waiver program.

Strengthen a board that oversees privacy and civil liberties issues.

Establish a voluntary certification program to assess whether private entities comply with voluntary preparedness standards.

Require president and Congress to disclose total spending requested and approved for the intelligence community.

Provide civil immunity to those who, in good faith, report suspicious activities that threaten the safety and security of passengers on a transportation system or that could be an act of terrorism.

Source: The Associated Press

http://www.star-telegram.com/national_n ... 83899.html

People will know that there's less chance a ship entering U.S waters conceals a nuclear device.

Yes, with China doing the scans at many US ports I feel safeer already.
Now excuse me while I go feed my dog with Chinese made dog food and brush my teeth with Chinese made toothpaste.

Provide civil immunity to those who, in good faith, report suspicious activities that threaten the safety and security of passengers on a transportation system or that could be an act of terrorism.

So a lady at an airport with three little kids in tow, who might be noisy and disturbing an elderly passenger trying to take a cat nap, forgets a diaper bag and is reported by the grump can be arrested and jailed indefinitely as a suspect.

How many people are going to be falsely reported? If my boss is a jerk, will he be reported? If my neighbor has a barking dog, will he be reported? If an ex husband, wife, boyfriend or girlfriend is upset with the other, will they be reported? How many people already abuses the 911 system? How about the woman who called 911 because Burger King got their order wrong or the guy who called 911 because his girlfriend wouldn't talk to him?


So if people in good faith report the economic terrorists crossing our borders, will DHS investigate?