The political crisis over the management of six United States ports by a Dubai-owned company worsened on Wednesday when a Republican-dominated committee in the House of Representatives voted to block the deal. The move deepens the fissures between the White House and Republicans facing midterm election battles, and represents one of the first splits between the White House and the Republican-run House during the Bush presidency.
A poll conducted last week showed that 70% of respondents opposed the sale of the ports. ”Our public is very concerned about a foreign country, in this case specifically a foreign country from the Middle East, having a major role in our ports,” Jerry Lewis, chairperson of the house appropriations committee, said.
”This is a national security issue,” Lewis told the committee. ”We want to make sure that the security of our ports is in American hands.”
The house majority leader, John Boehner, on Tuesday called the issue a ”very hot political potato”.
Lewis said he would add a provision to block the deal to a $91-billion emergency spending measure that seeks funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and for hurricane recovery. Although US President George Bush has vowed to veto any bid to block the ports deal, the spending measure is considered ”must-pass” legislation.
The measure, passed in a 62-2 vote by the house appropriations committee, which could be heard by the full house as early as next week, effectively scuttles the 45-day review period agreed by the company, Dubai Ports World, and the federal government. The review was intended to offer the White House a breathing space in the growing furore over the sale of the British company P&O, which manages the ports, to the United Arab Emirates-owned Dubai Ports World.
The White House insisted that negotiations were ongoing and that it would seek to work with Congress to resolve the impasse. Accompanying Bush on a visit to New Orleans to survey the hurricane recovery effort, the White House spokesperson, Scott McClellan, told reporters: ”The president’s position remains unchanged.”
In another blow to the deal, and a further sign of Republican discontent with the White House, the Republican chairperson of the armed services committee, Duncan Hunter, proposed a Bill that would oblige foreign companies to drop ownership of facilities deemed vital to US national security. Speaking on CNN about the Dubai ports deal, Hunter said: ”We’re going to kill this deal. The Republicans killed this deal.”
With the prospect of the Democrats leading opposition to the deal, Republicans were left with little option but to block the arrangement, in the hope that they would not cede ground on national security.
Democrats pushing for a vote on the deal in the Senate were thwarted by the Republican majority leader, Bill Frist. ”We believe an overwhelming majority will vote to end the deal,” said a Democratic senator, Charles Schumer. ”The only question is, is the Republican leadership acting with the quiet acquiescence of the White House or over their objections? I think it is the former.” – Guardian Unlimited Â