July 13, 2005: NORTON REINTRODUCES RAIL AND FREIGHT SECURITY BILL

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 13, 2005

NORTON REINTRODUCES RAIL AND FREIGHT SECURITY BILL SHE SPONSORED
LAST YEAR FOR PASSAGE BEFORE AUGUST RECESS IN WAKE OF LONDON DISASTER

Washington, DC-- At a news conference today with Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (CA) and other Democratic leaders, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) reintroduced her Secure TRAINS (Secure Transit and Railroads Across America and Investment in National Security) Act of 2005 for the second time in two years and pleaded the urgency of passage before Congress goes on its August break. “London should be too close for congressional comfort while the country’s subways, buses, rail, light rail and ferries go unprotected,” Norton said. She cautioned that London’s tally thus far of 50 dead and 700 injured and the Madrid totals of more than 190 killed and 1,800 injured could be far worse here “considering the abysmal state of passenger and freight preparedness across the United States today.”

Instead of passage this year, Norton, a member of the Homeland Security Committee, tried to get Secure TRAINS included in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) authorization bill passed by the House in May, but her bill was defeated on a party line vote. She managed to get two amendments requiring DHS to develop passenger security best practices for mass transportation operators, and to develop a national plan for public outreach and awareness for employees and passengers. However, the key provisions of her bill and of another she cosponsored for freight hazmat security protection were defeated because the President’s budget did not fund them.

Bush’s 2006 budget eliminated dedicated funding for mass transportation altogether, instead forcing mass transit into the Targeted Infrastructure Protection Program (TIPP) to compete with other transportation sectors, such as ports, which do receive dedicated funding. Last year, Congress provided only $150 million for mass transportation security grants, but this year the Senate Appropriations Committee already has reduced these grants by $100 million.

Norton asked rhetorically, “Don’t the Administration and Congress know what the people ride each day?” She said that 16 times as many passengers use public transportation as use airlines – 9 billion passenger trips annually on public transportation – but 90% of transportation security funding has gone to air travel “after the fact, after the catastrophe.” The Congresswoman said, “We are breaking our post-9/11 promise not to be caught flat footed again by letting the record stand at $21 billion for air travel security and $550 million for public transportation security all told. Secure TRAINS at a little over $3.8 billion modestly increases investment in public transportation and freight security.”

Norton said that unlike much of the wasteful, open-ended funding for homeland security in the period following 9/11, most of the funding in Secure TRAINS would be available through grants. Thus, the Homeland Security Committee’s formula based on threat, vulnerability and consequences can be applied with far greater financial efficiency.

The bill provides for what Norton called “first-line common sense security,” including cameras, communication systems, explosive detection, and security upgrades on tracks and in tunnels. The bill also includes whistleblower provisions Norton has been unable to get in prior bills. “If stockbrokers and accountants can be protected by Sarbanes-Oxley, it’s time we gave the same whistleblower protection to employees charged with keeping trains and buses secure.”

Returning employers include Chevy Chase Bank and PEPCO; federal agencies such as NASA and the National Park Service; local government agencies such as the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and the District of Columbia Courts; and medical institutions such as Washington Hospital Center and Howard University.