Democrats look to industry to pay for cargo inspections

House Democrats expect industry -- and possibly foreign governments -- to cover the costs of ensuring that all containers put on U.S. airplanes or shipped to the United States by sea are inspected within three to five years.

So in a move that might provoke a major backlash, the Democrats will bring a massive bill to the House floor Tuesday to implement unfulfilled recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.

The bill would require all cargo being put on domestic passenger planes to be inspected within three years, and all containers shipped by sea to the United States from foreign ports to be scanned for weapons of mass destruction within three to five years.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters Monday that Democrats will not propose new deficit spending in order to pay for the provisions. Instead, Pelosi's spokesman told CongressDaily the airlines would be expected to pay for air cargo inspections, while foreign port terminal operators would be expected to pay for scanning U.S.-bound sea cargo.

"I don't think any terminal operator can say this wasn't eventually expected," he said.

The bill does not estimate how much it would cost to fully inspect all of the air and sea cargo. But the Homeland Security Department is already spending $60 million to scan sea cargo at six foreign ports.

According to the department, there are more than 700 seaports where containers are placed on vessels bound for the United States.

A GOP aide said it is unrealistic to expect foreign terminal operators to pay the costs of scanning U.S. cargo. The aide said another obstacle might be reaching agreements with foreign governments to scan cargo at ports in their countries.

"We have no authority to make foreign ports pay for this," the aide said. "It makes me question how realistic their proposal is."

Other measures in the bill would be offset by fees. For example, the bill would authorize the Transportation Security Administration to continue collecting fees on tickets purchased by domestic airline passengers, creating a $1 billion fund for buying and deploying new in-line explosive detection systems at the nation's airports.

The GOP aide also expressed concern that provisions in the bill would lead to unfunded mandates for the Homeland Security Department.

For example, the bill would authorize such sums as may be necessary to create a new grant program to help state and local governments pay for interoperable communications. And it would require Homeland Security to provide the necessary funding and administrative support to staff the government's Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center.

A GOP leadership aide said Republicans will offer a motion to recommit on the floor.

Pelosi said Democrats believe provisions in the bill "will compete very well among priorities" for funding when appropriators consider them.

"Those determinations will be made by the Appropriations Committee," she said. "And as I say, I think the American people will be with us when we say these priorities should be our top priorities."

Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., told reporters that exact funding amounts were not specified on purpose.

"We won't tie the hands of the appropriators," he told reporters. "This is a team effort. So I would have probably wanted to put some money there, but in the spirit of let's getting it done, we'll work it out."

A Homeland Security Department spokesman declined to comment specifically on the funding implications of the bill and whether the department is worried it will lead to unfunded mandates.

"We have to be careful to not burn down the village in order to save it," the spokesman said. "We have been very clear about the doctrine of risk management and what that means, which of course does not mean risk elimination. It means prudent investments in our security to manage risk across the full spectrum of vulnerability."