Congressman Elijah E. Cummings Proudly Representing Maryland's 7th District

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 20, 2005

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Devika Koppikar
(202) 225-4741 or (202) 225-4025
Trudy Perkins
(410) 685-9199 or (202) 225-4741
Mike Christianson
(410) 685-9199 or (202) 225-9876

Rep. Cummings Comments on President Bush's Visit to Baltimore

Washington, DC -- Today, U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Maryland) released the following statement regarding President Bush’s visit to the Port of Baltimore. Congressman Cummings serves on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that examines port-related issues.

"I am pleased that President Bush visited the Port of Baltimore today. The Port is essential to the economy of Baltimore, the State of Maryland, and indeed, our nation, and the President's visit brings attention to the many accomplishments our Port has achieved. The Port provides nearly 16,000 direct jobs and its public terminals handle approximately 7 million short tons of cargo volume annually. A recent survey found that the Port of Baltimore ranked eighth among all U.S. ports in dollar value of cargo handled.

"However, despite its critical role in our nation's transportation infrastructure, since the September 11th terrorist attacks, the Port has been awarded only $11 million in federal port security grant funds - an amount that lags far behind what is needed to provide adequate security against potential threats. Recent news reports have highlighted some of the disturbing shortcomings that still exist in securing the Port of Baltimore and other ports around the nation. This reflects the continued underfunding of port security.

“In 2003, for example, U.S. ports requested nearly $997 million in federal port security grant funding -- while only $245 million was awarded. Further, there is a growing gap between federal funding for U.S. port security and aviation security. While aviation security received $4.6 billion in appropriations for the fiscal year 2006 budget, our nation's ports have received only $650 million in federal port security funding since 2001.

"It is imperative that we adequately fund the security systems in place at our nation’s 300 ports and develop the systems and technology necessary to identify dangerous cargo in containers without impeding the flow of commerce. Right now, less than 5 percent of the 9 million containers arriving at our nation's ports are physically inspected.

I urge the Bush Administration to begin showing support for port security -- and to transit and railroad security -- the same type of attention that has thus far been reserved for aviation security."

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