Congressional Record—House H2666
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H2666 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE May 6, 2004 This is a permission slip. This is Why do I take the time to say this? There was no objection. what has been agreed to. I heard what Because I feel very strongly about this. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The the chairman said, that, oh, if we insist I have given 25 years of my service in question is on the motion to instruct on protecting our interests, then other this body to security in aviation and to offered by the gentleman from Cali- governments will insist on inspecting maritime security, to on-land security. fornia (Mr. FILNER). security plans of the United States. A good part of my career has been on The question was taken, and the We have only 37 American-flagged aviation safety and aviation security, Speaker pro tempore announced that vessels in international commerce. and I do not think that we should do the ayes appeared to have it. They do not call on ports at Malta and anything less than the best. Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I object to Liberia. That is not the issue. The So, yes, we had that language in our the vote on the ground that a quorum issue is whether we, the biggest trading bill. I think we need to have this vote is not present, and make the point of Nation in the world, 11 million con- here on that language to reinforce the order that a quorum is not present. tainers coming into the United States position of the conferees when we go to The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- every year, will have the ability to see the other body because their language ant to clause 8 of rule XX, further pro- whether those ships were loaded in ac- simply embraces the international con- ceedings on this question will be post- cordance with the security plan that vention. We have to tell them, wait a poned. meets our standards and will protect minute, that is not good enough. That The point of no quorum is considered our security, and that there is not any- does not do a good enough job. If you withdrawn. thing going on those ships that does are serious about protecting our ports f and protecting the homeland of the not belong on those ships, like bombs, PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION nuclear devices, weapons of mass bio- United States, with 11 million con- tainers coming in, 8,000 vessels calling OF H. RES. 627, DEPLORING logical destruction. ABUSE OF PERSONS IN UNITED We do this already with aviation. at our ports every year, let us get seri- STATES CUSTODY IN IRAQ Why can we not do it for maritime? ous about it and make sure we provide Time and again, we have heard our big- the Coast Guard with the personnel Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. gest threat, the biggest unknown is and financial resources to carry out Speaker, by direction of the Com- what might be in a vessel coming into this mission. mittee on Rules, I call up House Reso- a U.S. port, what could be there that It is crucially important. Either we lution 628 and ask for its immediate could destroy a city, not only on the are serious about port security or we consideration. coastal plain of the United States, but are not; and not being serious is swal- The Clerk read the resolution, as fol- in the interior as containers move from lowing this International Convention lows: on Safety of Life At Sea. the port to the interior of the country. H. RES. 628 Now, why have this motion to in- That is not safe. I will trust the U.S. Coast Guard. I know what the men and Resolved, That upon the adoption of this struct? The purpose is that the Senate, resolution it shall be in order to consider in excuse me, the other body, has lan- women of the Coast Guard can do. the House the resolution (H. Res. 627) deplor- guage in its version of our bill that They are serious, they are experienced, ing the abuse of persons in United States simply accepts the international con- and they will do the job of security. custody in Iraq, regardless of the cir- So let us reaffirm the position of the vention. The Senate version simply cumstances of their detention, urging the House. Let us make sure when we go to recognizes the ISPS Code, security Secretary of the Army to bring to swift jus- conference, we stand firm; that the tice any member of the Armed Forces who plans drawn up by foreign-flag states, four principal negotiators on the part has violated the Uniform Code of Military and allows the country of registry to of the House are backed up by the voice Justice, expressing the deep appreciation of do the signoff. of this body, so that we stand firm on the Nation to the courageous and honorable Well, I know from experience and this language. Let us give the Coast members of the Armed Forces who have self- having been at this for some time that lessly served, or are currently serving, in Op- Guard the authority it needs. Let us in those countries of foreign registry, eration Iraqi Freedom, and for other pur- stand up to make sure that we are pro- very frequently the security plan is poses. The resolution shall be considered as tecting our ports. Protect the House contracted out to some private entity, read for amendment. The previous question position, protect security in the home- a private entity that has been approved shall be considered as ordered on the resolu- land of the United States through the tion to final adoption without intervening by the classification societies. And as one major Achilles heel afflicting us motion or demand for a division of the ques- we know, those international ship clas- right now, and that is port security. tion except: (1) one hour of debate equally di- sification societies are not repositories Mr. LOBIONDO. Mr. Speaker, will the vided and controlled by the chairman and of great strength and great courage gentleman yield? ranking minority member of the Committee and great oversight or great concern Mr. OBERSTAR. I yield to the gen- on Armed Services; and (2) one motion to re- commit which may not contain instructions. about security. So I do not want to see tleman from New Jersey. a security plan and have us just on Mr. LOBIONDO. Mr. Speaker, we are The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gen- faith accept a security plan of another in agreement with so many points that tleman from Washington (Mr. country of registry, done by a con- the gentleman made. No Member and HASTINGS) is recognized for 1 hour. tractor, which we do not even review. no one should get the impression that Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Furthermore, under the inter- any of us are not completely com- Speaker, for the purpose of debate national convention, which I just read, mitted to maritime anti-terrorism, to only, I yield the customary 30 minutes the Coast Guard has to get the equiva- homeland and port security. What we to my friend, the gentleman from Mas- lent of a search warrant. They have to are saying here is we believe there sachusetts (Mr. MCGOVERN), pending have probable cause. They have to find needs to be just a little bit of addi- which I yield myself such time as I something that they say, we know tional fine tuning. may consume. During consideration of there is something wrong. We have evi- But in principle, I agree. I will sup- this resolution, all time yielded is for dence that this ship has been improp- port the gentleman’s motion to in- the purpose of debate only. erly loaded and there may be ricin struct, and I thank the gentleman very (Mr. HASTINGS of Washington asked stored in one of these containers, or much. and was given permission to revise and the equivalent thereof. Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, re- extend his remarks.) Why do we have to do that? That is claiming my time, I thank the gen- Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. nonsense. Are we going to protect tleman. We will stand firm in con- Speaker, House Resolution 628 is a America, are we going to protect our ference. closed rule providing for the consider- shores, are we going to protect our Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield ation of House Resolution 627, deplor- ports, or are we just simply going to back the balance of my time. ing the abuse of persons in United leave it to the good will and good of- The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. States custody in Iraq, regardless of fices of other countries? We do not do FOSSELLA). Without objection, the pre- the circumstances of their detention, that in aviation, and we ought not to vious question is ordered on the mo- urging the Secretary of the Army to be doing it for port security. tion. bring to swift justice to any member of VerDate May 04 2004 02:02 May 07, 2004 Jkt 029060 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 4634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\K06MY7.026 H06PT1 May 6, 2004 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H2667 the Armed Forces who has violated the b 1130 would not apply to many of our ac- Uniform Code of Military Justice, and We are here to condemn such acts. tions, especially those concerning de- expressing the deep appreciation of the But we are also here to do much tainees.