Democrats Killing Jobs, Weakening Economy, Undermining Security

House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) denounced House Democrats, specifically Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), for proposing legislation to inspect all containers that enter the U.S in a statement released today.

The Democrats’ plan would force security screeners to waste their time scanning cargo that poses no risk to the U.S, and in so doing it would undermine our security by forcing containers to sit for an extended periods of time, putting them at even greater risk. And because no technology currently exists to make this process move quickly, the Markey amendment would basically shut down global trade. Paralyzing the flow of goods coming in and out of the country won’t make Americans safer — it would kill American jobs, send U.S. jobs overseas, and weaken the U.S. economy.

Boehner also praised a House bill introduced by Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) and Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) that addresses port security.

The reason this bill is broadly supported is because it is grounded in practices that work. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) already screens the cargo manifest (and other data) for 100 percent of cargo containers coming into the U.S. It assesses the risk of containers through the Automated Targeting System (ATS) and scans every high risk container. In addition, 44 overseas ports participate in the Container Security Initiative (CSI), which requires scanning or physical inspection of high risk containers before they ever make way for the U.S.