Port Security Votes

As I noted last weekend the House was scheduled to consider three separate port security related bills; HR 3173, HR 4005, and HR 4251. All three were debated on Tuesday, but a lack of a quorum caused the actual votes to be pushed back. On Thursday the House passed all three bills; two by overwhelmingly bipartisan votes and the other by a voice vote.

While these bills have enjoyed wide bipartisan support in the House (and no significant opposition) there are only a limited number of days left before the summer recess and it is unlikely that these bills will be taken up by the Senate in that time. Between the summer recess and the election in November, no significant political work will get done in the Senate as both sides posture for November. The best hope for these three bills to actually pass this year will be during post-election lame duck session.