Jay Inslee: Washington's 1st Congressional District
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House makes ferries eligible for security grants
4 May 2006
Thanks to U.S. Reps. Jay Inslee and Vito Fossella, the House approved an amendment that would include ferry boats in a federal homeland security grant program.
On Tuesday, Inslee and Fossella called on Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King (R-N.Y.) to add a provision to broad port-security legislation under consideration in the House, which would make ferries and their terminals eligible for such federal funding. King endorsed their fix and included it in his package of changes to the underlying bill, the Security and Accountability for Every (SAFE) Port Act, H.R. 4954. King's so-called manager's amendment was approved unanimously by the House just before 12 noon EDT.
"Without this change, Washington State Ferries wouldn't be eligible for federal grants like one they received last year for $6.5 million to monitor and secure facilities," said Inslee, a ferry-rider from Bainbridge Island, Wash. "Knowing that ferries in Puget Sound could be a terrorist target, it would be irresponsible to exclude them from the program."
Just last month, a report authored by the Justice Department's inspector general ranked Puget Sound ferries as a top maritime terrorist target. Ferries in Washington state carry around 26 million passengers a year, making it the largest ferry system in the United States.
The SAFE Port Act provides $400 million in federal grants to improve maritime security, long sited by analysts as a weakness in the nation's homeland security. It also increases training for first-responders and dockworkers, and establishes a timetable to ensure most containers coming into U.S. ports undergo radiological screening. The House is expected to pass the sweeping port-security bill later this afternoon.