Majority Blocks Nadler Bill to Scan 100% of Shipping Containers

WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Republican Leadership today blocked House consideration of the Sail Only if Scanned (S.O.S.) Act, a bill to x-ray 100-percent of shipping containers entering the United States. Congressman Jerrold Nadler authored the bill with Congressman James Oberstar, ranking Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Nadler offered the S.O.S. Act as an amendment to H.R. 4939, an emergency supplemental appropriations bill currently under consideration by the House. The Republican chairman of the House Appropriations Committee raised a point of order against the bill, blocking debate and a vote on the measure.

"The Republicans in Congress had a concrete opportunity today to fix a gaping hole in our national security, and, once again, they failed to act," Congressman Nadler said. "Security experts agree that we will not be safe until we scan 100 percent of U.S.-bound shipping containers before they depart for our shores. Shockingly, the Bush Administration and its allies in Congress are content to leave that figure at 1 percent."

The S.O.S Act, H.R. 4899, mandates that all containers be scanned using the best-available technology, including scanning for radiation and density, before they are loaded onto a ship bound for the United States, and that all U.S.-bound containers be sealed with a transponder that would notify American officials of a breach before the shipment enters the Exclusive Economic Zone of the United States.

House Democratic Leadership has embraced the bill as a common-sense solution to an urgent threat. Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, Caucus Chairman James Clyburn and other Democratic leaders yesterday echoed Nadler’s call for 100-percent scanning. As Whip Hoyer said, "In a time of unprecedented threats to America’s security, we can accept nothing less."

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