Homeland Security spending bill headed to Senate floor

Before passing the bill by voice vote, the panel approved an amendment by South Carolina Democrat Ernest "Fritz" Hollings and Alabama Republican Richard Shelby to add $20 million to the Coast Guard's new system to communicate with ships entering U.S. territory. The money would be used by the Coast Guard to build towers in the 55 major ports across the country.

The committee included funding for other technologies, such as $92 million to form partnerships with the private sector for sharing information about critical infrastructure, $194 million for developing protective programs for critical infrastructures, $67 million for cyber-security activities, $141 million for national security telecommunications, $75 million for rapid prototyping and $11 million for interoperability communications, among others.