W.House sticks to ports veto threat, Senate debates

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

WASHINGTON, Mar 9: The White House today warned that rebellious House of Representatives Republicans could jeopardize funding for Iraq, Afghanistan and hurricane rebuilding if they attach a bid to stop the Dubai ports deal to emergency spending legislation.

The White House refused to back away from a veto threat against legislation that would stop the deeply unpopular plan for a state-owned Arab company to take over management of six U S ports, and said talks were under way aimed at a compromise with Congress.

''We'd be concerned about attempts to address the ports transaction in any emergency legislation because it could slow down passage of vital funds and resources for the efforts I just mentioned,'' McClellan said.

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives Appropriations Committee yesterday approved on a vote of 62-2, an amendment that would block the state-owned United Arab Emirates company Dubai Ports World from managing terminals at the American ports.

By attaching the amendment to a must-pass spending bill, Republicans were essentially calling Bush's bluff on whether he was really prepared to carry out what would be the first veto of his presidency in order to save the ports deal.

McClellan said the spending bill included vitally needed money for Iraq, Afghanistan and Gulf Coast rebuilding.

Dubai Ports World today said it had completed its acquisition of Britain-based ports-management company P&O but would hold U.S. port operations ''separate'' while a U S security review of the contract is carried out.

Since word of the deal broke last month, lawmakers have complained about security risks if ports management was turned over to firms from countries that in the past were sympathetic to terrorist activities.

At a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said it would be a mistake ''if people went away with the impression that this country (Dubai) is in any way anything other than very helpful to us in the global war on terror.'' ''The White House I know is working with the Congress to try to find a way to sort through this issue in a manner that's acceptable,'' he said.

It was not immediately clear if the ports deal came up in a White House meeting between Bush and Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican. But McClellan said White House officials were engaged in talks with members of Congress and company representatives on how to salvage the deal, including changes in the process that gave birth to it.

That may not be enough.

Inspired to act immediately after the House committee's vote, Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York offered a measure to block the ports deal as an amendment to a bill on the Senate floor that would change the way lobbyists operate in Washington.

But Frist, who has vowed to oppose consideration of any such measure during an ongoing 45-day review of the ports agreement, introduced a motion to end debate on the lobby bill -- and effectively eliminate Schumer's amendment.

Schumer pleaded with colleagues to allow his amendment to come to a vote now. ''We have to deal with the Dubai ports issue. Not in April or May, but now,'' Schumer declared.

But Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican and also a strong critic of the ports deal, said the Senate needed to move ahead and finish the lobbying bill first. ''Let's get on with the task before us,'' she said.

A vote could come on Frist's motion later today.

Because the lobby legislation requires a change a Senate rules, Frist needs a super-majority of 67 votes in the 100-member Senate to succeed with his motion to end debate.

REUTERS

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