Port elizabeth, N.J. ? President Bush told border-control workers Monday that his plan for a new Department of Homeland Security will “make your jobs easier” and the nation safer.

The proposed department would bring together several federal agencies now responsible for keeping dangerous cargo from slipping through the nation’s ports. The president showcased Port Elizabeth, N.J., where numerous federal agencies must cooperate with two states and two port authorities, to help whip up support for his proposal, now before Congress.

Accompanied by a phalanx of Cabinet members on a hot, muggy day, Bush toured a display of hazardous materials teams, examining one device that detects nerve agents such as mustard gas. Squinting into New York Harbor, he surveyed towering cargo loaders and passing ship traffic.

“It is the right thing to do to have the over 100 agencies involved in homeland security under one authority so we can have authority and accountability,” said Bush. He spoke to several hundred Coast Guard members and Port Authority police officers and officials from aboard the Escanaba, a Coast Guard cutter with an orange helicopter perched on its deck that is used to patrol waters here and intercept suspicious boats.

“It’ll make your jobs easier. … It’ll make our federal government more responsive. It’ll allow us to communicate better. It’ll allow all of you to make sure that the hard hours you’re putting in are able to secure the homeland.”

Together, Port Elizabeth and nearby Port Newark form the largest seaport on the East Coast, moving more cargo than anywhere else on the Atlantic coasts of North or South America.

But an overwhelmed Customs Service can search only 2 percent to 3 percent of the 3,500 containers that arrive daily at the New Jersey ports and neighboring facilities in Brooklyn and Staten Island, N.Y. The containers, arriving from foreign ports, are loaded onto trucks or trains for delivery nationwide.

Last week, the administration announced $92.3 million in federal grants to 51 ports to enhance security, and Bush highlighted how improved knowledge, risk-management techniques and equipment already are making imports safer.

“Now we’re better and stronger and wiser today than we were,” Bush said.

One New Jersey company keenly watching the president’s visit was Advent Inc., which has developed technology for the onboard scanning of cargo containers for radioactive or biological substances and instant transmission of results to a central database. “Containers are one of the greatest weaknesses in our country’s defense against the smuggling of weapons of mass destruction,” said company president Carl D’Emilio.

Bush also saluted 75 Port Authority workers who were killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11.

“Being here reminds me that the country still continues to pay tribute to the heroism of 9-11 and we must,” the president said, individually addressing many relatives of those who died. “As we pay tribute to the heroes, we pay tribute to America’s character.”

Bush continued his fund-raising efforts for Republicans Monday. He and Vice President Dick Cheney crossed the $100 million fund-raising mark last week.

A luncheon being headlined by the president was expected to raise about $700,000 for Rep. Mike Ferguson, R-N.J., a freshman in a competitive race to hold his seat, said the congressman’s press secretary, Bailey Wood. According to an Associated Press tally, the amount appeared to break a record for a Bush take on behalf of a single House candidate this year.