Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 2 1/2 minutes.
Mr. Chairman, earlier this year I introduced the Reducing Crime and Terrorism at America's Seaports Act of 2005 along with my colleague the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Coble), chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security. Our legislation is aimed at filling a gaping hole in our defense against terrorism and making America's ports, passengers and cargos safer.
Today, I offer the text of this important legislation as an amendment to the PATRIOT reauthorization bill, joined by my colleague the gentleman from North Carolina (Chairman Coble) of the Committee on the Judiciary, as well as the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Forbes), another colleague on the Committee on the Judiciary.
There are 361 seaports in the United States that serve essential national interests by facilitating the flow of trade and the movement of cruise passengers, as well as supporting the effective and safe deployment of U.S. Armed Forces. These seaport facilities and other marine areas cover some 3.5 million square miles of ocean area and 95,000 miles of coastline.
Millions of shipping containers pass through our ports each month. A single container has room for as much as 60,000 pounds of explosives, 10 to 15 times the amount in the Ryder truck used to blow up the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. When you consider that a single ship can carry as many as 8,000 containers at one time, the vulnerability of our seaports is alarming.
Many seaports are still protected by little more than a chain link fence and in far too many instances have no adequate safeguards to ensure that only authorized personnel can access sensitive areas of the port. If we allow this system to continue unchecked, it may be only a matter of time until terrorists attempt to deliver a weapon of mass destruction to our doorstep via truck, ship or cargo container.
Strengthening criminal penalties, as the gentleman from North Carolina (Chairman Coble) and I proposed with our bill and in this amendment, is one way we can make our Nation's ports less vulnerable by filling this hole in our defense against terrorism and making America's ports, passengers and cargo safer.
This amendment makes common sense changes to our criminal laws to deter and prevent terrorist attacks on our ports, our sea vessels, and cracks down on the theft and smuggling of cargo.
I want to be clear, our amendment is intended to go after terrorists, terrorist acts and other dangerous felons. There is no intention to reach accidents or other unintentional acts that might occur at seaports.
A substantially similar bipartisan version of our legislation has already been reported favorably by the Senate Judiciary Committee and is awaiting action by the full Senate.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.