Securing America's Ports Act
Public Law 116-299 · H.R. 5273 · 116th Congress · began in the House
Signed by Donald Trump (R) on Jan 5, 2021 · Immigration
Sponsor: Rep. Xochitl Torres Small (D-NM-2)
Cosponsors (9): Rep. Dan Crenshaw, Rep. Elissa Slotkin,
Passage votes
- HouseUnanimous consent
- SenateUnanimous consent
Data notes
The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
Securing America's Ports Act
This bill requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to report to Congress a plan to perform high-throughput scanning of all commercial and passenger vehicles and freight rail traffic entering the United States at a land port of entry or rail-border crossing using large-scale non-intrusive inspection systems, such as X-ray and gamma-ray imaging systems, or similar technology. The plan shall include elements such as (1) an inventory of such systems currently in use, (2) the estimated costs of achieving a 100% scanning rate, and (3) the anticipated impact that increasing the scanning rate will have on wait times at land ports of entry and rail-border crossings. DHS shall periodically report to Congress on the progress in implementing the plan.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Homeland Security Committee · House · markup by, referred to, reported bySubcommittee: Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability Subcommittee; Border Security and Enforcement Subcommittee
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Related bills
The record lists no related bills.
Data notes
Related bills are identified by the Congressional Research Service, the House and the Senate: companion and identical bills, bills with similar text, bills that were folded into this law, and rules that brought it to the floor. A bill that is itself a public law in this site’s data links here; the others link to Congress.gov.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 28 actions.
- Jan 5, 2021Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 116-299.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Dec 24, 2020FloorFloor · Presented to President.
- Dec 10, 2020Resolving differencesResolving differences · Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
- Resolving differencesResolving differences · On motion that the House agree to the Senate amendments Agreed to without objection.
- Resolving differencesResolving differences · Ms. Torres Small (NM) asked unanimous consent that the House agree to the Senate amendments.
- FloorFloor · Ms. Torres Small (NM) asked unanimous consent to take the bill, H.R. 5273, from the Speaker's Table and agree to the Senate amendments.
- OtherOther · Resolving differences -- House actions: On motion that the House agree to the Senate amendments Agreed to without objection.
- Dec 8, 2020FloorFloor · Message on Senate action sent to the House.
- Dec 7, 2020FloorFloor · Passed Senate with an amendment and an amendment to the Title by Unanimous Consent.
- Sep 9, 2020CalendarCalendar · Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 530.
- CommitteeCommittee · Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Reported by Senator Johnson with an amendment in the nature of a substitute and an amendment to the title. With written report No. 116-267.
- Mar 11, 2020CommitteeCommittee · Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.
- Feb 11, 2020CommitteeCommittee · Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
- Feb 10, 2020FloorFloor · Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
- FloorFloor · On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote.
- FloorFloor · DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 5273.
- FloorFloor · Considered under suspension of the rules.
- FloorFloor · Ms. Torres Small (NM) moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.
- Feb 6, 2020CalendarCalendar · Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 317.
- CommitteeCommittee · Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Homeland Security. H. Rept. 116-394.
- Jan 29, 2020CommitteeCommittee · Ordered to be Reported (Amended).
- CommitteeCommittee · Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
- CommitteeCommittee · Subcommittee on Border Security, Facilitation, and Operations Discharged.
- Dec 13, 2019CommitteeCommittee · Referred to the Subcommittee on Oversight, Management, and Accountability.
- CommitteeCommittee · Referred to the Subcommittee on Border Security, Facilitation, and Operations.
- Nov 26, 2019CommitteeCommittee · Referred to the House Committee on Homeland Security.
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in House
Data notes
Every action the Library of Congress lists for the bill, from introduction to signing, plus the dated committee hearings. The source lists many steps twice (the chamber’s own entry and the Library of Congress copy, or a presidential and a became-law entry with the same words); those are shown once. Amendments are listed in their own section.
Amendments
No amendments to this bill are on record.
Data notes
Amendments offered to this bill in either chamber, as the Library of Congress records them: each with a status read from its last recorded step: agreed to, rejected, withdrawn, ruled out of order, fell with another amendment, or offered with no vote recorded (most Senate amendments are only ever offered). The wording of each amendment is the source’s. Amendments to amendments and amendments to other bills are not listed.
Official record
The bill’s full text is on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.