Congress OKs port security, bans Internet gaming

WASHINGTON, Sep 30 (Reuters) Congress approved legislation today to help protect US ports against catastrophic September 11-style attacks, as both parties sought to burnish their national security credentials before congressional elections.

But lawmakers tacked on an unrelated ban on Internet gambling, a Republican-backed measure that passed the House but had trouble getting through the Senate until it was added to the popular port security bill.

The legislation containing both measures was approved by a voice vote in the Senate and passed the House 409-2 early today before being sent to President George W Bush to sign into law.

The bill was part of a frenzy of last-minute legislating before lawmakers left Washington to start campaigning for the November 7 voting, in which control of the US Congress is at stake.

''This is a major accomplishment for this Congress that will help to strengthen our homeland security in ways that really matter,'' Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican and one of the authors of the ports legislation, declared before it passed.

The bill would authorize 3.4 billion dollar over five years for safety measures, including installing radiation detectors at the 22 largest US ports by the end of next year.

With 11 million cargo containers coming into US ports each year, ''each one has the potential to be the Trojan Horse of the 21st century,'' carrying a small nuclear device or ''dirty'' bomb into the country, Collins said.

The ports bill sets up a pilot programme at three foreign ports to test the feasibility of scanning cargo headed for the United States while it is still overseas.

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