nbc Kudos to the dems :-) nbc

I'm not sure why this took six years, but the 9-11 panel
recommendations will soon become law, including a provision that
protects people who report suspicious activity on or near
transportation facilities from retaliatory lawsuits filed against them
by those they report. The 85-8 vote makes this bill veto proof. The
*** in this bill has always been a no brainer. Nice to see its
finally coming to pass.

Congress sends 9/11 panel recommendations to Bush
House passed homeland security bill 371-40 Friday
Bill shifts more federal money to high-risk states and cities
Legislation requires more stringent screening of air and sea cargo
Measure passes by a 85-8 vote

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress sent President Bush legislation Friday to
intensify anti-terror efforts in the U.S., shifting money to high-risk
states and cities and expanding screening of air and sea cargo to
stave off future September 11-style attacks.

The measure carries out major recommendations of the independent 9/11
Commission.

The bill, passed by the House on a 371-40 vote, ranks among the top
accomplishments of the six-month-old Democratic Congress. The Senate
approved the measure late Thursday by 85-8, and the White House said
the president would sign the bill.

Six years after the Sept. 11 attacks and three years after the 9/11
Commission made its recommendations, "Congress is finally embracing
what the 9/11 families have been saying all along," said Homeland
Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Mississippi. "It takes
a willingness to do things a different way."

The bill elevates the importance of risk factors in determining which
states and cities get federal security funds -- that would mean more
money for such cities as New York and Washington -- and also puts
money into a new program to assure that security officials at every
level can communicate with each other.

It would require screening of all cargo on passenger planes within
three years and sets a five-year goal of scanning all container ships
for nuclear devices before they leave foreign ports.

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman
Joe Lieberman, I-Connecticut, who steered the legislation through the
Senate with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said it would "make our
nation stronger, our cities and towns more secure and our families
safer."

Republicans generally backed the bill while stressing their own
administration's success in stopping another major terrorist attack.
The bill, said Rep. Peter King of New York, top Republican on the
Homeland Security panel, "is another step in the right direction
building on the steps of the previous 51/2 years."

"These efforts build upon the considerable progress we've made over
the past six years," said White House spokesman Scott Stanzel.

Completion of the bill, six months after the House passed its original
version on the first day of the current Congress, was a major victory
for Democrats who have seen some of their other priorities --
immigration and energy reform and stem cell research funding --
thwarted by GOP and presidential resistance and House-Senate
differences.

Another goal, raising the minimum wage, went into effect last Tuesday,
and Democratic leaders still hope for agreement on ethics and lobbying
changes before Congress departs for its August recess at the end of
next week.

The independent 9/11 Commission in 2004 issued 41 recommendations
covering domestic security, intelligence gathering and foreign policy.
Congress and the White House followed through on some, including
creating a director of national intelligence, tightening land border
screening and cracking down on terrorist financing.

Democrats, after taking over control of Congress, promised to make
completing the list a top priority.

Former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Indiana, the vice chair of the 9/11
Commission, said with enactment of the bill some 80 percent of the
panel's recommendations will have been met. "The bottom line is that
the American people will be safer," he said.

The 9/11 bill led off the first busy legislative week in the House
last January, and the Senate passed its version in March. The measure
stalled after that, partly because of a White House veto threat over
language, since dropped, to give collective bargaining rights to
aviation screeners.

House-Senate negotiators finally reached an agreement this week after
Democrats worked out a provision satisfying GOP demands that people
who report what they in good faith believe to be terrorist activity
around planes, trains and buses be protected from lawsuits.

The most controversial provision in the legislation requires the
radiation scanning of cargo containers in more than 600 ports from
which ships leave for the U.S. The White House, and other critics, say
that the technology isn't there, that the requirement could disrupt
trade and that current procedures including manifest inspections at
foreign ports and radiation monitoring in U.S. ports are working well.

Supporters argue that the unthinkable devastation from the detonation
of a nuclear device in an American port makes it imperative to scan
cargo before it reaches U.S. shores. As a compromise, it was agreed
that the Homeland Security secretary can extend the five-year deadline
for 100 percent scanning in two-year increments if necessary.

The White House was also unhappy with a provision that requires total
amounts requested and appropriated for the intelligence community to
be made public.

There was more agreement on changing the formula to ensure that more
federal security grants go to high-risk states and cities. The current
formula makes sure that every lawmaker, even those representing rural
areas relatively safe from terrorism, get a chunk of the federal
grants. Under the new formula a larger percentage of grants will go to
high-risk urban areas.

The bill also establishes a new grant program to ensure that local,
state and federal officials can communicate with each other and
approves $4 billion over four years for rail, transit and bus
security.

It strengthens security measures for the Visa Waiver Program, which
allows travelers from select countries to visit the United States
without visas.

The massive legislation also contains language requiring the president
to confirm that Pakistan is making progress in combatting al Qaeda and
Taliban elements within its borders before the United States provides
aid to the country.

Hamilton said that one shortcoming of the bill is that it
fails to carry out the commission's recommendation that Congress
streamline its own overlapping setup for monitoring intelligence and
homeland security matters. "I think congressional oversight still
remains a weakness in our homeland security," he said.

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