I 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4820 
To amend the Defense Production Act of 1950 to strengthen the requirements 
relating to investigations under such Act, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 28, 2006 
Mr. MARKEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committees on En-
ergy and Commerce, International Relations, and Homeland Security, for 
a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend the Defense Production Act of 1950 to strengthen 
the requirements relating to investigations under such 
Act, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Port Operations Re-
quire Tough Scrutiny (PORTS) Act of 2006’’. 
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SEC. 2. COMMENCEMENT OF INVESTIGATIONS. 
(a) 
DISCRETIONARY
INVESTIGATIONS.—Section 
721(a) of the Defense Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 
App. 2170(a)) is amended— 
(1) in the second sentence, by striking ‘‘30 
days’’ and inserting ‘‘60 days’’; 
(2) by inserting after the second sentence the 
following new sentence: ‘‘The 60-day period specified 
in the preceding sentence may be extended by an ad-
ditional 10 days if the President or the President’s 
designee determines that it is appropriate to do so.’’; 
and 
(3) in the fourth sentence (as so redesignated), 
by striking ‘‘such determination’’ and inserting ‘‘a 
determination is made under this subsection that an 
investigation should be undertaken’’. 
(b) MANDATORY INVESTIGATIONS.—Section 721(b) 
of the Defense Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. App. 
2170(b)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘30 days’’ and 
inserting ‘‘60 days’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following new sen-
tence: 
‘‘The 60-day period specified in paragraph (1) may be ex-
tended by an additional 10 days if the President or the 
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President’s designee determines that it is appropriate to 
do so.’’. 
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
subsections (a) and (b) apply with respect to written noti-
fications of proposed or pending mergers, acquisitions, or 
takeovers received pursuant to section 721 of the Defense 
Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. App. 2170) on or after 
the date of the enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL MANDATORY INVESTIGATIONS. 
(a) AMENDMENTS.—Section 721(b) of the Defense 
Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. App. 2170(b)), as 
amended by section 2(b) of this Act, is further amended— 
(1) in the first sentence— 
(A) by striking ‘‘The President or the 
President’s designee’’ and inserting the fol-
lowing new paragraph: 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The President or the Presi-
dent’s designee’’; 
(B) by striking ‘‘in which an entity’’ and 
inserting ‘‘in which— 
‘‘(A) an entity’’; 
(C) by striking ‘‘which could result in con-
trol’’ and inserting ‘‘which could result in— 
‘‘(i) control’’; 
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(D) by striking the period at the end and 
inserting ‘‘; or 
‘‘(ii) control of a person engaged 
in interstate commerce in the United 
States that could affect the critical in-
frastructure of the United States; or’’; 
and 
(E) by adding at the end the following new 
subparagraph: 
‘‘(B) a foreign person seeks to engage in 
any merger, acquisition, or takeover which 
could result in foreign control of persons en-
gaged in interstate commerce in the United 
States that could affect the critical infrastruc-
ture of the United States.’’; 
(2) in the second sentence— 
(A) by striking ‘‘Such investigation’’ and 
inserting the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO COMMENCE-
MENT AND COMPLETION.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An investigation de-
scribed in paragraph (1)’’; and 
(B) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and 
(2) as clauses (i) and (ii), respectively, and 
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moving the margins of clauses (i) and (ii) (as 
so redesignated) 4 ems to the right; 
(3) in the third sentence (as added by section 
2(b)(2) of this Act), by striking ‘‘The 60-day period 
specified in paragraph (1)’’ and inserting the fol-
lowing new subparagraph: 
‘‘(B) EXTENSION OF COMMENCEMENT.— 
The 60-day period specified in clause (i)’’; and 
(4) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(3) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 
‘critical infrastructure’— 
‘‘(A) has the meaning given the term in 
section 2(4) of the Homeland Security Act of 
2002 (6 U.S.C. 101(4)); and 
‘‘(B) includes seaports in the United 
States.’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
subsection (a) apply with respect to written notifications 
of proposed or pending mergers, acquisitions, or takeovers 
received pursuant to section 721 of the Defense Produc-
tion Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. App. 2170) on or after the 
date of the enactment of this Act. 
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SEC. 4. REPORT; ACTION WITH RESPECT TO CERTAIN MAN-
DATORY INVESTIGATIONS. 
(a) AMENDMENTS.—Section 721 of the Defense Pro-
duction Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. App. 2170) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating subsections (g) through (k) 
as subsections (h) through (l), respectively; and 
(2) by inserting after subsection (f) the fol-
lowing new subsection: 
‘‘(g) REPORT; ACTION WITH RESPECT TO CERTAIN 
MANDATORY INVESTIGATIONS.— 
‘‘(1) REPORT.—If the determination of the 
President or the President’s designee pursuant to an 
investigation described in subsection (b)(1)(A)(ii) of 
this section is that the President or the President’s 
designee, as the case may be, approves or does not 
otherwise object to the merger, acquisition, or take-
over which is the subject of the investigation and the 
President decides not to take action pursuant to 
subsection (d) of this section with respect to the 
merger, acquisition, or takeover, as the case may be, 
then the President shall, not later than 30 days 
after the date on which the investigation is com-
pleted, transmit to the Congress a report that con-
tains the decision of the President not to take action 
pursuant to subsection (d) of this section with re-
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