mr. chairman , i thank the gentleman for yielding me this time . 
i would like to join my colleague from virginia in his interest in the security of the port of hampton roads . 
mr. chairman , this amendment is well drafted to target the problem of port security . 
it closes an apparent oversight in the fact that it is not a federal crime for a vessel operator to fail to stop when ordered to do so by a federal law enforcement officer , and makes it clear that that is a crime . 
the penalties are increased penalties , but not mandatory minimums , so the increases will make sense . 
i will not , however , be supporting the amendment because it has several new death penalties in it . 
it has death penalties , some of which push the envelope on constitutionality , because some can be imposed even if there is no intent to kill ; they are broad enough to even include deaths which result from violating the stowaway statute . 
mr. chairman , death penalties can not be a deterrent to suicide bombers , so that part of the bill i think would not be helpful in terms of port security . 
what we do need in port security is significant increases in funding for port security , funding for bus and rail security , funding for first responders . 
that is the kind of thing that will make us safer . 
as to the other parts of the bill , i would like to thank the gentleman from california ( mr. schiff ) xz4003610 and the other cosponsors for their hard work in focusing us on port security , which is desperately needed . 
