Senate approves $300 million for port security
A U.S. Senate bill authorizing more than $8 billion in funding for the Coast Guard in fiscal 2005 includes $300 million for port security measures.
The Senate unanimously passed the authorization bill one day after the House passed its $8.2 billion version of the bill.
One of the co-sponsors of the bill, Sen. Ernest Hollings, has tried repeatedly to get user fees and other funding mechanisms passed over the objections of the Bush administration and House Republicans to pay for port security improvements required by the Maritime Transportation Security Act.