March 1, 2007: Cargo Containers Amdt. is Tabled; More Votes Tomorrow

I caught little snippets of today's Senate action.  There was only one vote.  It concerned a Schumer amendment to the pending 9/11 Commission Recommendations Bill that would have required each cargo shipping container entering the country to undergo screening.  Right now, not every shipping container is searched; rather only some containers are search based on some sort of algorithm that tries to identify the riskiest containers for searches.  Chuck Schumer (NY) has proposed this same type of legislation before, unsuccessfully.  Same result today.  It was tabled by 58 votes in favor of tabling, 38 against.  Follow the link to see who voted which way.

The Senate will come in bright and early (9:30 est) to continue voting on amendments to the 9/11 Commission Recommendations bill (a.k.a. S.4).  At ten, the Senate will begin to vote on the first of two amendments.  A Salazar Amdt. and a Sununu Amdt.  After that the schedule is yet to be determined.

P/Review:
The Senate is already going.  Yesterday, the Senate voted on and approved two amendments to the Homeland Security Bill currently pending in the Senate.  Another amendment, to be considered today, proposes allowing Transportation Security Administration employees to unionize.  Right now Robert Bennett (UT) is speaking in opposition to this amendment.