Business groups help sink Senate cargo scanning proposal

With strong opposition from the shipping and trade industry, Senate Republicans and a handful of Democrats defeated a proposal Thursday that would have required all cargo be scanned at foreign ports before being put on ships bound for the United States.

Senators voted 58-38 to table the proposal, which was offered by Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Robert Menendez, D-N.J., as an amendment to a bill to implement unfulfilled recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.

"Requiring 100 percent scanning of all inbound sea containers (more than 11 million containers annually) may be well intentioned, but it is not feasible, given the current technology," the National Association of Manufacturers wrote in an open letter to senators. "A 100 percent scanning requirement could strangle commerce and have a significantly damaging impact on American manufacturers and cost jobs."

"The NAM's Key Vote Advisory Committee has indicated that votes on the Schumer amendment will be considered for designation as Key Manufacturing Votes in the NAM voting record for the 110th Congress," the letter said.

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., and ranking member Susan Collins, R-Maine, led opposition to the amendment. "I would say at this point, respectively, that the requirement is premature," Lieberman said.

They both argued that technology does not yet exist to scan all cargo at foreign ports. They also pointed out that a maritime security law -- the so-called SAFE Port Act enacted last fall -- requires the Homeland Security Department to conduct test programs to scan all cargo at three foreign ports.

The department must regularly report to Congress on the test programs, and move to ensure that cargo is scanned at all ports as soon as possible.

Schumer and Menendez countered that the department will only make progress if Congress sets a deadline for scanning all cargo abroad. Their amendment would require that all cargo at the world's largest ports be scanned within three years and at all ports within five.

"With all due respect, I cannot stand here and say that the SAFE Port Act does enough," Schumer said.

The amendment mirrored language in a bill approved by the House in January to implement 9/11 Commission recommendations, setting up a significant conference issue.

Also on Thursday, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., formally introduced an amendment to strike a provision in the bill that would give federal airport screeners collective bargaining rights.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., offered an alternative amendment that would give screeners stronger worker protections, including collective bargaining rights and whistleblower redress.

But McCaskill's amendment would deny screeners the right to strike, prohibit screeners from bargaining for higher pay, or from divulging sensitive or classified information during a grievance procedure, and clarify that the department can take whatever action it deems necessary to manage screeners during an emergency.

It was unclear how much support McCaskill could count on, but senators continued to look for a compromise to give Transportation Security Administration screeners more employee protections while dropping the bill's references to collective bargaining, which has drawn a White House veto threat. Collins, for one, said she would focus on finding "middle ground."